The Lower Lake or Chhota Talaab is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

, the capital of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

state of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Along with the Bhojtal or Upper Lake, it forms the Bhoj Wetland.

History

The lake was built by creating in 1794 to beautify the city. The construction was commissioned by Chote Khan, a minister of

Nawab Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...

Hayat Muhammad Khan Bahadur. A number of earlier wells were merged in this lake. The lower lake is beside a bridge named 'Pul Pukhta'. The lower lake has also been mentioned as "Pukhta-Pul Talao" in literature.

Geography

The Lower Lake is located to the east of the Upper Lake. An earthen dam separates the two lakes. The two lakes are built in a terraced manner, the lowest level of the Upper Lake is just below the highest level of the Lower Lake. The Lower Lake has an area (water spread) of 1.29 , and its catchment area is 9.6 km². The lake receives subsurface seepage from the Upper Lake. In the 1850s, the maximum and minimum depths of the lake were 11.7 m and 6.16 m respectively. As of 2011, the maximum depth was 10.7m. The Lower Lake does not have any

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

source; it receives seepage water from the Upper Lake and drainage from 28 sewage-filled

nullah A nullah or nala (Hindustani language, Hindustani or "nallah" in Punjabi language, Punjabi) is an 'arm of the sea', stream, or watercourse, a steep narrow valley. Like the wadi of the Arabs, the nullah is characteristic of mountainous or hilly co ...

s. It drains into the Patra rivulet, which joins Halali River, a small tributary of the

Betwa River , discharge1_min = , discharge1_avg = , date=November 2019 , discharge1_max = , source1 = Vindhya Range , source1_location = Near Obedullaganj, Vindhya Range north of Hoshangabad , source1_coordinates = , source1_elevation = , mouth ...

Pollution

The Lower Lake suffers from pollution due to drainage from sewage-filled nullahs, lack of fresh water source and commercial washing of clothes. The entire lake is

eutrophic Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

, and its water is not suitable for drinking.

References

External links

Lower Lake (Chhota Talab)
at wikimapia {{City of Bhopal Lakes of Madhya Pradesh Tourist attractions in Bhopal 1794 establishments in India Geography of Bhopal