How A Community Comprising Locals Helped Conserve Badly Polluted Tsomgo Lake Of Sikkim

Tsomgo Lake, also known as Tsongmo Lake or Changu Lake, is a glacial lake in the East Sikkim district of the Indian state. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Sikkim.

Tourists at Tsomgo lake/ Sikkim Tourism

However, such popularity has had a detrimental impact on the lake.

Eco-tourism potential

Located around 40 kms from Sikkim's capital Gangtok, Tsongmo Lake remains frozen during winters. The beautiful sights and convenient location make this a popular tourist destination.

Lake Tsomgo/ Wikipedia

The local population also depends on the eco-tourism potential of the Tsomgo Lake for their livelihood, mainly because the region's harsh climate and high altitude make it unsuitable for agriculture.

Lake in 'very bad shape'

On August 11, 2006, the Department Of Forest, Environment and Wildlife Management, Government of Sikkim, came up with a gazetted notification laying down the guidelines for lake conservation in partnership with Gram Panchayats and Pokhri Sanrakshan Samitis.

Laktsheden, Landscape Co-ordinator, WWF-India, tells Mongabay-India, ¡°In 2007, the lake was in a really bad shape. When we did a recce of the lake, we found out that all the kitchen wastes from the periphery of the lake was going directly in the lake. Apart from that, there was open defecation and garbage throwing happening around the lake.¡±

After the notification, Tsomgo Pokhri Sanrakshan Samiti (TPSS) was formed in 2008 and soon, the community's help was sought.

Community efforts transformed lake

From each household in the three villages near the lake, two members were enlisted in the TPSS.

Further, police, drivers association and shopkeepers were also included as members. Rs 10 was set as Lake Conservation Fees to be collected from the tourists, of which 50% was transferred to the State Environment Agency, and the rest was used to conserve Tsomgo Lake.

The shopping complex near the lake was shifted from above the lake to a few metres below the lake to stop the disposal of sewage from these shops.

Water filters were distributed to the shops to reduce the use of packaged drinking water.

Sanjay lama from sikkim has worked with TPSS since 2008/thebetterindia

Talking to Mongabay-India, Chamba Sherpa, a shopkeeper who also doubles up as a lake guard for TPSS, says, "We clean the surroundings of the lake twice daily ¨C in the morning and evening. The trash collected is then taken to the recovery center. There, the trash is segregated, recovering the recyclable materials like PET bottles, TetraPak cartons, metals, etc. The bottles are then sent for recycling through scrap dealers."

Former member-secretary of TPSS, Karma Bhutia, says, "Since the community took over, the forest department has to give not more than 10% attention towards conservation of the lake.

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