Famed for Himalayan peaks and pristine lakes, Kashmir faces a water crisis amid dry weather

Independent

21-02-2025

For days, people in the Himalayan region of Kashmir watched in agony as a famed ancient spring ran dry amid extreme dry weather conditions. It was the first time in living memory that the spring water had vanished.
While the spring returned to life on Friday, replenished by fresh rain and snowfall, the region's people are now discussing something they had long feared — that climate change and changing weather patterns could soon take a toll on Kashmir's water bodies that nurture its famed orchards and vast agricultural fields.
Multiple springs and streams — including tributaries of the region's main Jhelum River that cuts through the Kashmir Valley — have dried in Indian-controlled Kashmir, causing water shortages in recent weeks across the region known for its Himalayan peaks and pristine lakes.
The concern was highlighted by a video that went viral on social media this week showing an elderly woman praying and crying her heart out in front of the ancient spring in southern Kashmir's Achabal town.
The spring, inside a famed garden built by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir's wife in the 17th century, is a source of drinking water for 20 villages in the area.
'Oh! holy spring, what have we done to you? You have stopped water to us,' 80-year-old Saja Begum is seen howling in the video. 'Let the spring come back to life. Let the holy spring overflow with water."
The video stirred emotions across Kashmir, where many residents are relying on government-provided water tankers.
Weather officials say the region has witnessed over 80% rain and snow deficit since the beginning of this year. Most of Kashmir's plains have received little snow while the upper reaches saw less than usual. For over a month now, daytime temperatures have been between 5 to 8 degrees Celsius above the norm.
Authorities have launched an investigation into what caused the spring waters to vanish, according to local online news outlet The Kashmiriyat, quoting officials.
The crisis has forced officials to temporarily cancel national winter games held every year in the famed tourist resort of Gulmarg that boasts Asia's largest ski terrain. Thousands of domestic and international tourists typically visit to ski and sledge its stunning snowscape in winter.
Experts say the weather shifts in Kashmir are linked to broader climate change and global warming.
'It's a new normal now,' said Mukhtar Ahmed, head of the Indian meteorological Department's Kashmir office. 'Extreme weather events are so frequent here. In the last few years, we are witnessing brazenly the effects of global warming in this ecologically fragile land.'
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the region's top official, said Kashmir was facing a water crisis this year. He said the crisis has 'been building up for a few years now' and the government was reviewing measures to deal with the crisis.
'While the government will have to adopt a more proactive approach for water management & conservation, it can't just be a government-centric approach,' Abdullah wrote in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday.
The region's residents 'will have to change the way we take water for granted," he said.
Weather monitoring agencies say Earth recorded its hottest year ever in 2024, surpassing the previous record set in 2023, with such a big jump that the planet temporarily passed a major climate threshold.
Countries had set a goal of limiting global warming since pre-industrial times to 1.5 degrees at the 2015 Paris climate talks to avert the worst consequences of climate change.
It's the first time in recorded history that the planet was above a hoped-for limit to warming for an entire year. Scientists say if Earth stays above the threshold long-term, it will mean increased deaths, destruction, species loss and sea level rise from the extreme weather that accompanies warming.