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14-06-2025
- General
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Hauz-i-Shamsi: Delhi's Sultanate-era reservoir turns climate buffer, haven for migratory birds
Located in the historic neighbourhood of Mehrauli, is the Hauz-i-Shamsi, a reservoir dating back to 1230, common era. It was built by the third sultan of the Delhi Sultanate, Shamsuddin Iltutmish of what is referred to as the Slave Dynasty. Every year, this ancient water body stands as a silent witness to the Phool Walon Ki Sair festival at the adjoining Jahaz Mahal, which is decorated with fresh flowers to celebrate the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, or syncretic Hindu-Muslim culture. For the rest of the year, it brings joy to many people who live around it in homes that stand cheek-by-jowl in the narrow, serpentine lanes of Mehrauli in South Delhi. 'Every morning when I wake up and step out on the balcony of our house, I see the jhilmil [sparkling] water of our Shamsi talab. Sunrays dance on it, which is a beautiful sight,' Zaida Zehra told Mongabay India. Zaida's home, where she lives with her husband and two school-going daughters, is in Ward 8, overlooking the lake. She is from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and moved to Mehrauli 18 years ago after marriage. But the waterbody was not always a sight for sore eyes, said Zaida. Hauz-i-Shamsi, or a sunny water tank, is a protected site under the Archaeological Survey of India. It was constructed to collect rainwater and provide drinking water and respite from the blazing summer heat to the medieval inhabitants of Mehrauli. But over time, it became a dirty, smelly drain filled with garbage and wastewater. 'Until about two years ago, our talab was a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and it was overgrown with weeds. People from our locality used to empty dirty water into it. People bathed their cattle here. We were pained to see its dilapidated condition but didn't know how to clean up the talab and restore it to its past glory,' said Zaida. However, Zaida and the other residents of wards 8 and 6 in Mehrauli did not give up on the dream of reviving the Hauz-i-Shamsi and soon joined a multi-stakeholder project to restore the water body. This happened in early 2023, when the ASI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SEEDS, or the Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society, India, a New Delhi-based non-profit, to restore the water tank and the urban ecosystem around it. As part of the initiative, SEEDS reached out to residents, leading to the birth of Pride of Shamsi, a group of active community members who have since been involved in the restoration and upkeep of the water body. Zaida is an active member of this group. The five-acre talab now boasts of clean water with six solar-operated aerators that circulate and oxygenate its water. There are floating bio-islands with reeds, the roots of which keep the water clean. The boundary of Hauz-i-Shamsi has been demarcated and fenced. The water body today is a haven for both native and migratory birds. The participation of the citizenry in such a revival project can be crucial. 'In a changing climate, the citizens are the key stakeholders and can help maintain and protect these urban commons in the long term,' Manu Gupta, Co-founder of SEEDS India, told Mongabay India. Reviving Shamsi talab Mohammad Arif remembers the good old days when he visited his grandmother, who lived near the talab. 'As a child, I spent many summer afternoons at Shamsi talab enjoying the cool breeze and watching fishes swim in its waters. Till about 2010, the talab was in a reasonably okay condition. It was also much bigger,' reminisced Arif. Like Zaida, Arif too now lives in ward number eight of Mehrauli, near Hauz-i-Shamsi. According to him, the lake began to shrink when construction picked up around it. 'Lots of houses came up in its vicinity, and concretisation affected the flow of rainwater into the tank. Wastewater and sewage started flowing into the talab,' Arif said. Diverting dirty wastewater and untreated sewage away from the lake was the biggest challenge. In 2021, two years before the signing of the MoU with the Archaeological Survey of India, SEEDS reached out to various stakeholders – the Municipal Council of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority, ASI, councillor, Jal Jeevan Mission, Delhi Jal Board, and local residents like Zaida. Those involved initiated ground-based assessments to chalk out a restoration plan, which eventually led to the signing of the MoU. SEEDS India has a SURGE Initiative (SEEDS Urban Resilience, Governance, and Enablement), which focuses on community-driven interventions and innovative solutions to restore urban water bodies across India. 'As part of SURGE, we did a baseline survey of the area and held a series of discussions with community members to identify the challenges around the restoration of Shamsi talab,' said Mitali Vavre, a conservation architect with SEEDS India. 'Thereafter, we carried out a hydro-geophysical assessment of the water body and mapped its catchment. Water quality tests were done to find levels of dissolved oxygen and other key parameters. We found a lot of invasive plant species in the water body. Over a period of a year, untreated effluents flowing into the lake were tapped and diverted,' informed Vavre. According to Ruchi Bhatt, Project Manager, SEEDS India, 'Since Hauz-i-Shamsi is a heritage site, there are regulations around the activities that can be undertaken. Machine excavation of waste and invasive plants from the lake is not allowed and had to be done manually by roping in skilled cleaners. Lake area was demarcated and fenced,' she said. This was followed by the introduction of bioremediation measures to clean the lake. 'These include floating bio-islands, which are constructed wetlands with layers of special aquatic plants to clean the water naturally. Six solar-powered aerators have been installed to enhance water circulation and improve dissolved oxygen levels, contributing to a healthier aquatic ecosystem,' explained Vavre. To promote community stewardship and build collective ownership of the waterbody, children from the community were involved in raising awareness, and Zaida's daughters led the campaign. 'While our parents formed the Pride of Shamsi group, we children got together and every weekend held activities, such as drawing, mehandi, and rangoli competitions, centred around our talab,' Rojis, the 15-year-old daughter of Zaida, told Mongabay India. 'We also enacted street plays and took out a children's march through our busy market of Mehrauli, raising slogans to protect our water body,' she added. A cool solution Urban water bodies are increasingly being recognised as a key natural infrastructure to cool down cities, according to S. Vishwanath, an urban planner and founder director of Bengaluru-based Biome Environmental Solutions, which has revived several urban and rural lakes in Karnataka. 'Urban lakes have a cooling effect due to evaporation and can help bring down the temperature by 2-4 degrees celsius around them,' he said. 'But two things need to be kept in mind – wind direction, which should not be blocked, and native trees should be planted around the water body to further bring down the temperatures.' Urban planners are increasingly stressing the role of blue and green infrastructure, consisting of urban water bodies and trees/gardens. The role of urban water bodies in climate change mitigation and adaptation has also been recorded in a training manual titled Rejuvenation and Conservation of Water Bodies and Open Areas, published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. It notes that urban water bodies help combat the urban heat island effect and bring down city temperatures. 'Urban lakes create their own microclimate and can help cool our cities. They need to be an integral part of our city's climate action and heat action plans,' said Gupta, who is a trained urban planner. Delhi has several water bodies that can be integrated into the city's heat action plan. According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti's First Census of Water Bodies conducted in 2021, Delhi has 893 water bodies. There are 525 ponds, 14 lakes, four tanks, and 350 water bodies that are enumerated as 'others'. The Census also found that nearly one-fourth of these water bodies (24.19%) were encroached upon, which is the highest among all the states. The Delhi Heat Action Plan 2024-'25 mentions 'increasing blue cover' and 'restoration of water bodies in Delhi'. But there is a need for a detailed plan for the same because growing scientific evidence globally shows the gains of the same. A 2024 paper, The Role of Water Bodies in Climate Regulation: Insights from Recent Studies on Urban Heat Island Mitigation, highlights that water features and green spaces can significantly cool urban environments. 'By integrating water features with other urban cooling strategies, such as tree planting and expanded greenery, cities can effectively counter UHI effects, leading to more sustainable and resilient urban environments,' the report said. Another study published in Sustainable Cities and Society in April 2023 also points out how the implementation of urban blue and green infrastructures can help regulate urban temperatures. The authors note that water bodies in urbanised areas, such as lakes and wetlands, reduce temperature due to their strong evaporation and high heat capacities during the daytime. Water has a high specific heat capacity – it absorbs a lot of heat before it begins to warm up. Researchers at the Universities of Bath in the United Kingdom and Bologna in Italy have shown that more than a single large water body, it is a network of small water bodies that can more effectively cool areas and mitigate daytime extreme temperatures in spring and early summer across larger distances. According to Vavre, SEEDS India is already working on solutions to ensure Hauz-i-Shamsi has enough water to provide ecological services. 'We had to stop untreated wastewater from flowing into the water body as it was killing the tank. But lakes need water to stay alive. We are in discussion with authorities so that treated sewage can be fed into the lake,' she said. Vishwanath supports the idea of using treated urban wastewater to revive lakes. 'If we treat sewage and use constructed wetlands to further clean the water, it can be emptied into lakes. It will not only help manage cities' wastewater but also create cool microclimates in urban centres,' he said, adding that in Bengaluru, 27 lakes are already receiving treated wastewater, and the aim is to cover 40 such lakes in the city.
India.com
19-05-2025
- India.com
Top 10 Facts About Delhi That Every Traveler Should Know
The Indian capital town of Delhi presents itself as a lively combination of old heritage ties with contemporary trends alongside cultural traditions. The place serves as India's central spot for politics and management while being recognized for both its cultural multitude and its fast growing development. Know these 10 exceptional elements about Delhi which will capture anyone's interest: 1. Delhi is One of the Oldest Continuously Inhabited Cities in the World Delhi commenced its existence as a city more than 5,000 years ago thereby ranking itself among the most ancient urban settlements worldwide. Archaeologists have found proof that communities thrived here throughout the times of the Indus Valley Civilization. The city of Delhi suffered rule under multiple dynasties starting from the Mauryans through Mughals to the British while each dynasty added its distinct architectural styles to the city culture. 2. It Has Been the Capital of Several Empires History attests that Delhi held the position of capital for seven major dynastic empires. History demonstrates that Delhi has been chaired by multiple empires following each other in succession starting with the Tomaras then the Chauhans followed by the Slave Dynasty and Khilji Dynasty then the Tughlaq Dynasty and Lodi Dynasty leading up to the powerful Mughal Empire. The successive dynasties that ruled Delhi constructed various magnificent architectural marvels such as Qutub Minar alongside Red Fort and Humayun's Tomb. 3. Delhi is Not Just One City – It's Eight Cities Combined Diverse rulers erected their fortified regions to become the landscapes that form modern-day Delhi. The succession of eight cities brings together Indraprastha with both Lal Kot and Siri along with Tughlaqabad, Firozabad, Dinpanah, Shergarh and Shahjahanabad. Through multiple successive conquests Delhi has developed an exclusive character which serves as an essential ground for historical research. 4. The Name 'Delhi' Has Multiple Theories Behind Its Origin Scientific evidence does not confirm the origins of the city name Delhi even though multiple theories about its etymology exist today. According to some historians the city received its name because Raja Dhillu, a Mauryan Period king administered this region. Dehleez found within Hindi and Urdu means threshold or gateway thus representing what serves as the gateway for northern India according to some experts. Research suggests 'dehli' derived from Persian origin where it signifies frontier. 5. Home to Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites Inside Delhi exists a pair of indomitable UNESCO World Heritage Sites which include Qutub Minar alongside Red Fort. The Qutub Minar measures 73 meters in height making it the highest brick minaret in existence and Qutb-ud-din Aibak constructed this grand structure in 1199. The Red Fort which Emperor Shah Jahan built during 1638 established itself as the Mughal residence and currently stands as a landmark representing India's freedom movement. 6. Delhi is the Largest Commercial Hub in Northern India The regional economic activities of North India heavily rely on Delhi which strengthens the nation's overall Gross Domestic Product. The area includes headquarters of major corporations in addition to international firms as well as the active markets found in Chandni Chowk and Connaught Place. Research shows that Delhi holds a position within the top global metropolitan cities based on purchasing power parity statistics. 7. A Melting Pot of Cultures and Religions People from every part of India along with international citizens make Delhi into a cultural diversity hub where multiple tongues and traditions unite. Every year Diwali joins Eid along with Christmas and Holi and Durga Puja as festivals which people celebrate with tremendous spirit throughout the city. Delhi displays its secular spirit through its religious monuments which include Akshardham Temple alongside Jama Masjid and Gurudwara Bangla Sahib together with Lotus Temple. 8. Green Spaces Amid Urban Chaos The urban density of this global metropolis does not prevent it from supporting a variety of green recreational areas. Delhi residents together with tourists can find peaceful spaces in the urban confusion at the Ridge Forest and Lodhi Gardens along with Nehru Park and Sanjay Van. The tree-covered streets and park areas throughout Delhi help combat pollution but do not fully eliminate this ongoing environmental issue. 9. Delhi Metro – A Marvel of Modern Engineering The Delhi Metro transformed urban public transport when it began its operations in 2002. The network extends more than 390 kilometers between nine lines while connecting major sites efficiently to minimize traffic problems. Due to its reliable operation combined with low costs and immaculate service the metro ranks as among the world's top transportation networks and ferries huge numbers of users per day. 10. Air Pollution Remains a Major Concern The city of Delhi brings many advantages to its citizens yet it encounters major environmental dangers that primarily manifest through air pollution. The Indian capital of Delhi occupies one of the highest spots on the global pollution list because its population must endure excessive PM2.5 and PM10 particulate pollution from vehicles and industries and neighboring state farmland fires as well as building site activities. The government implements programs to minimize pollution through vehicle restrictions on odd and even days and electric vehicle promotion and forest expansion. Conclusion Delhi exists as a modern city that unites age-old customs with modern development objectives. Through its history as an imperial center Delhi now stands as a busy worldwide city which fascinates people with its sophisticated and amicable qualities. The city presents fresh discoveries through its ancient monuments as well as its efficient metro system and savory street cuisine at Chandni Chowk to its cosmopolitan inhabitants. The sustainable development of Delhi into the future depends on resolving current priority matters such as pollution.
