Visitors to Pokhara this week have been disappointed to see that the famous Phewa Lake has receded, leaving a large expanse of mud flats by the shore.
The reason is maintenance of the dam that was built 40 years ago and had started leaking because the rubber seal on its gates had not been repaired since. The municipality has also taken the opportunity of the water level being lowered by 2m to strengthen the foundation.
“We decided to do all the repairs at once before the monsoon and it will mean that the water level will be below normal for another two months or so until the lake fills up again,” said chief engineer of the Department of Irrigation, Kiran Acharya.
The dam was built mainly to provide irrigation to 600 hectares downstream to the Seti basin, but also to generate 1MW of electricity.
But Phewa is such an attraction that it has attracted visitors from far and wide who have come to see the dry lake bed. However, it has affected fisher folk who have been using the lake for aquaculture who complain that they were not informed about the repairs and lost up to 16kg of fish.
The municipality has also increased vigilance against land grabbers who might want to take over parts of the dry lake bed. This is to prevent a repeat of the encroachment of the Phewa Lake after damage to the dam 25 years ago which required the water level to be lowered.
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