Ropar Wetland

Ropar Wetland, also named Ropar Lake, is a man-made freshwater riverine and

The wetland once was a popular tourist attraction for bird watching and boating. A tourism complex called the ‘Pinccasia’ was located within the wetland boundary, which was run by the Punjab Tourism Development Corporation. A boat club was also functioning. Now only a dilapidated building of tourist bungalow exists, boating Bay is damaged, garden is also unkept. The road leading to Katli fish farm once displayed typical ecological succession with Marsilea growing on the banks of lake along with Equisetum sp.(Horsetails) growing through large rock boulders on the bank. Typha grew further away from lake going across the narrow road with Ferns growing ultimately leading to shrubs during early 1990s. Now only shrubs and trees can be seen.^[4]

Access

The wetland is located close to the city of

Topography

The total area covered by the Wetland is 1365 ha, which includes 800 ha area of the river and the reservoir, 30 ha of forest area named as Sadavarat Forest and 30 ha under marshy plants. The wetland is surrounded by hills in the North West and by plain area in the South and South East. Agricultural crops such as wheat, rice, sugarcane, sorghum etc., are grown in the farm lands in the area surrounding the wetland but the hills have thin vegetation and are exposed to intensive grazing.^[4]

Hydrology

Climatically, the drainage area of the wetland falls under semi-arid zone of Punjab with mean annual rainfall of 1518 mm. Initially, in the year 1882, a small headwork was constructed on the right bank of

Water quality that determines the health of ecosystem of the wetland was monitored by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) in the year 1998-99. The water quality was reported to be of 'A' category as the river entered into Punjab and deteriorated to 'D' category downstream of Ropar Lake, mainly due to the industrial effluents from a number of factories and industrial units. Further studies on physico-chemical analysis of important parameters, biological estimations as well as pesticide residue analysis have been initiated.^[2][4]

Flora and fauna

The wetland is rich in flora and fauna which are categorized below.^[2][4]

Flora

A total of 19 species of trees and 14 species of bushes and grasses are recorded. Of these, the tree species are

The food chain in the wetland is basically well balanced as it has both deep water and shallow water characteristics and the ecosystem is stated to be

almost self sufficient and self-regulating.

A Scientific study of the food chain has brought out the following sequence of facts.^[4]

• abiotic
  components of the wetland ecosystems with the organic matter caused by the death and decay of animals and plants accumulating at the bottom of the lake
• fungi; Aspergillus sp., Rhizopus sp., Curvularia sp., Paecilomyces sp., Saprolegnia
  sp. etc. are main species causing the decomposition
• The producers of
  flagellates
  .
• insects
  are the primary consumers which feed directly on plants.
• Plant remains and organic matter nourish
  fishes
• Marginal rooted
  cows
  etc. which frequent the shores of the lake
• birds
• Carnivorous
  fishes also belong to this category
• Large
  birds are the tertiary
  consumers which feed on small fishes and insects.
• Top most consumer level is that of the human being and the fish eating birds, which feed mainly on fishes

Over the years several adverse impacts on the quality of the wetland have been reported. Some of the important ones which invited remedial actions are:[2]^[4]

• Acute problems of siltation from the adjoining barren and fragile hills. Bare hills of the catchment are subject to continuous erosion leading to shrinkage of wetland area.
• Unwarranted interference with the resident and migratory birds
• Unauthorized fishing and poaching of wildlife causing damage to species
• Increase in effluents from industrializatation in the upstream area of the wetland, such as the Fertilizer plant at Nangal and Thermal Power Plant at Ropar
• Effluents of chemical pollutants like agrochemical residues run off, industrial effluents and sewage from some towns in the upper reaches of the wetland
• Growth of Invasive weeds

Restoration measures

The Punjab State Council for Science & Technology has evolved several conservation programmes with support from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoE&F) of the Govt of India. Some of the programmes implemented include mass awareness campaigns and promotion of public participation in the wetland conservation. A few of the measures planned and under various stages of implementation are:^[2][4]

• Afforestation and soil conservation in the highly erosion prone catchment areas of the wetland,
• To erect chain-link fencing of strategic areas of the wetland to prevent exploitation of vital wetland resources and prevent encroachments of the wetland
• detailed survey, including remote sensing survey and preparation of comprehensive maps
• Detailed taxonomic studies of plant and animal species
• Introduce fish species sustain fragile relationship between the fish level and the other biotic resources like birds and primary producers and to set up new fish seed farms in addition to refurbish the existing ponds.
• Economic assessment

Gallery

• 
  Indian python (

  Python molurus molurus

  , Near threatened species)
• 
  Ficus tree or fig tree
• 
  Golden Shower Tree (Cassia fistula)
• 
  Bombax ceiba (Cotton tree)
• 
  Wallago attu, a species of catfish
• 
  Coppersmith barbet (Megalaima haemacephala)
• 
  Geoclemys hamiltonii

  (spotted pond turtle)
• 
  Migratory birds at Ropar Wetland -January 2018
• 
  Migratory birds at Ropar Wetland
• 
  Migratory birds at Ropar Wetland
• 
  Migratory birds at Ropar Wetland
• 
  Ropar Wetland -Dec, 2017
• 
  Ropar Wetland - Dec, 2017

See also

• Wetland
• Kanjli Wetland
• Harike Wetland

References