Residents of Salibi village at Gongdue Gewog in Monggar depend on Weringla Lake as their main source of water for both drinking and irrigation purposes. However, the lake is drying up leaving the residents worried. The Gongdue Gewog Administration is now planning to initiate a revival of the lake to ensure the water source doesn’t dry up.
Weringla Lake is located about a kilometre below the newly constructed Weringla Dungkhag office. The lake is almost dried up and calls for revival.
The lake is the main source of water for 15 households of Salibi village which is located below the lake.
The villagers have constructed a concrete water reservoir near the water source.
Rinchen Dema, a resident said, “If the lake dries up, we will not get water. We depend on the water from the lake for drinking purposes. Water is essential for us.”
“There won’t be water at the source if the lake dries up. As we don’t have any other water source, we depend on the lake water. The other water sources are far from our village,” said Tenzin Dorji, a resident.
Worried about the issue, 59-year-old Rinchen Tshering carried out the revival of the Weringla Lake in 2021.
He had cleared the lake and planted trees around it. However, the works weren’t successful as wild animals damaged the trees due to a lack of fencing.
Now, the gewog plans to carry out the revival works by gathering volunteers at the earliest.
The situation is no different at Damkhar Lake which is the source of irrigation water for paddy plantation for two households in Damkhar village.
According to the local leaders, due to the drying of the lake and labour shortage, one of the households could not continue rice plantation and have cultivated maize in their paddy fields since 2021.
The gewog plans to revive the lake at Damkhar as well. The households are hopeful of resuming paddy cultivation if they get enough water following the lake revival.
Besides, the gewog believes that the revival of the lake will attract tourists.
Gongdue Gup, Tshewang Namgay, “Gongdue Gewog has Golden Masheer to promote eco-tourism. In addition, we have sacred places and lakes to visit. If we receive guests including international and domestic tourists, it will benefit the locals.”
He added that the Gewog Administration has discussed the lake revival works with all the Tshogpas of five chiwogs of Gongdue Gewog.
Karma Wangdi
Edited by Phub Gyem
