Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
Kashmiri vendors push a handcart loaded with freshly harvested water lily stems. Water lilies grow abundantly in the lake, where local dwellers harvest their long stems with leaves to be sold to the livestock owners as green fodder for their cattle. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Published On 1 Oct 2026

Dal Lake in Srinagar, the heart of tourism and cultural life in Indian-administered Kashmir, is slowly giving way under mounting population and environmental pressures.

Once renowned for its clear waters, floating gardens and houseboats, the lake is now clogged with untreated sewage, plastic waste and rampant weed growth, even as thousands of residents and businesses rely on it for transport and their livelihoods.

Unregulated construction along its shores, land encroachment and the expansion of nearby neighbourhoods have reduced its surface area and further damaged its fragile ecosystem.

The impact of climate change, including erratic rainfall and rising temperatures, is accelerating the lake’s decline.

Despite periodic clean-up campaigns and official conservation schemes, the future of Dal Lake remains uncertain, reflecting a wider environmental crisis across the Kashmir Valley.

Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
Tourists enjoy shikara rides across the open waters of Dal Lake, taking in the scenic views of the surrounding mountains and houseboats. These expansive open waters serve as a central hub for tourism and leisure, offering visitors a panoramic view of the lake's iconic landscape. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
A young boy paddles a traditional boat past plastic waste along a backwater channel in the interiors of Dal Lake. Over the last five decades the lake has shrunk by roughly 40 percent and has become shallow due to heavy siltation. The constant flow of untreated sewage directly into the lake has caused severe pollution and subsequent environmental degradation. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
An elderly shopkeeper sits in front of his arts and craft store in the famous Meena Bazar located along a commercial area near the lake. Tourism remains a primary economic lifeline for local boatmen and shopkeepers operating along the main waterways of the Dal Lake. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
A fisherman paddles a traditional boat along a creek in the Telbal area as he heads toward the main waters of Dal Lake. Telbal creek serves as the primary inlet supplying approximately 80 percent of water to the lake. The water originates from the high altitude Marsar Lake in the Himalayas and flows down through Dachigam National Park before feeding into the lake’s ecosystem. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
A woman walks down a narrow alleyway that was once a navigable backwater channel interconnected with the interior of the lake. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
Tourists ride shikaras, traditional wooden boats with canopied seats used for transport and sightseeing, through the narrow interior waterways. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
Ghulam Mohammed, 65, a master craftsman with 50 years of experience, said that untreated sewage and illegal encroachments have severely polluted the lake. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
Young boys walk along a gravel pathway leading towards one of the hamlets of interior Dal Lake while passing a floating excavator anchored in the middle of a weed-choked backwater channel. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
A young boy catches a fish while sitting on a wooden footbridge spanning the backwaters of Dal Lake. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
A makeshift wooden walkway winds through floating lotus gardens and backwater channels in the interiors of Dal Lake. Lotus stem (nadru) a famous local delicacy, is widely cultivated throughout in the interior marsh lands of the lake. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
The network of wooden footbridges serves as the primary means of daily transit for residents. Most of the bridges were built over the past decade, replacing traditional boats. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
"There was the time when we used to drink water directly from the lake, and today, I can’t even walk barefooted on this land, such is the poor condition of water these day," said the 55-year-old local farmer Ghulam Ahmad. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]
Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake faces environmental and climate challenges
A backwater channel in the interiors of Dal Lake. [Yasir Iqbal/Getty Images]