PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) is preparing a work plan for an elaborate survey of glacial lakes in Uttarakhand and their regular monitoring. A discussion was held on this with scientists of various Central institutions on Friday. According to State officials, the USDMA will play the role of the coordinator in this task and provide necessary cooperation to various research institutions which will work on the glacial lakes.
Chairing the meeting, the Disaster Management secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said that 13 glacial lakes have been identified in Uttarakhand. Out of these, five lakes are in category A. He informed that a group had conducted survey of the Vasudhara lake in the Dhauli Ganga basin in Chamoli district last year. Representatives of the USDMA, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, State Disaster Response Force, National Disaster Response Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police were part of this team which had surveyed the glacial lake. The four category-A glacial lakes in Pithoragarh district are set to be surveyed this year.
Suman said that work is being undertaken to develop a foolproof system along with various institutions to ensure the proper monitoring the glacial lakes in the State. The USDMA will also facilitate the necessary cooperation of various scientific institutions for the study of glacial lakes, he said. The USDMA wants to bring various scientific institutions on the same platform to enable elaborate study of the glacial lakes in Uttarakhand, the secretary added. Various equipment like water level sensors, automatic weather stations, thermal imaging and other aspects will be utilised for the survey of the glacial lakes, he said.
USDMA additional CEO (Administration) Anand Swaroop informed that in the first stage, the depth of the glacial lakes, width, water drainage channel and other aspects will be studied.This will be followed by work on establishing early warning systems. He said that equipment will also be installed to enable scientists to ascertain the changes taken place in the glacial lakes. The glacial lakes in the State will be monitored using high quality equipment, the additional CEO added.
