Monsoon brings prosperity to India. For Delhi, it brings chaos – drowning deaths, injuries, road closures, long traffic snarls, and pictures of Delhiites swimming in floodwaters accumulated on streets. But why does India’s capital city have to endure this pain every monsoon?Official data and experts blame, in part, Delhi’s disappearing lakes, along with the lack of stormwater management planning, poor drainage, and unrestricted construction.advertisementSHRINKING LAKESOnly a decade ago, the Bhalswa Lake – spread across an area equal to three football fields side by side and fringed with lush greenery – offered a scenic view to residents of the DDA complex in Sanjay Enclave. Today, the nondescript neighbourhood quietly masks the memory of the erased water body.This is only a glimpse of the larger story of vanishing water bodies across the city’s landscape.At least 14 of Delhi’s 193 officially documented water bodies have disappeared over the past decade-some drying up entirely, others lost to unplanned construction, repurposed as parks, or relegated to dumpyards. Approximately another 60 lakes are mostly in a dried-up state and 13 others only seasonally wet. Comparison of Naraina’s Mayapuri lake in Google Earth satellite imagery from 2010 and 2025India Today used satellite imagery to corroborate the findings of the status report on Delhi’s water bodies, ordered by the Central Pollution Control Board and conducted under the National Green Tribunal(NGT) in September 2024. Comparison of Hari Nagar’s Tihar lake in Google Earth satellite imagery from 2010 and 2025The report documents comprehensive data on all the city’s lakes which were georeferenced and further verified on the ground by NGT officials. Many of these lakes have either shrunken in size due to encroachment or become heavily polluted and are struggling to survive.Although some lakes were revived under the Arvind Kejriwal government, not nearly enough. Only 57 of the 193 lakes are in satisfactory condition, according to the National Green Tribunal’s analysis and India Today’s verification. Comparison of Vasant Kunj’s Smriti Van lake in Google Earth satellite imagery from 2010 and 2025 Comparison of Tughlaqabad fort pond and Tikri Khurd lake in Google Earth satellite imagery from 2010 and 2025The Mayapuri lake in Naraina, Tihar lake in Hari Nagar, a pond near Smriti Van in Vasant Kunj, the Tughlaqabad fort pond, and Madipur lake are among the most prominent water bodies now in a non-existent state. Others, like Sanjay lake and Smritivan Kondli lake, have shrunk in size, choked by eutrophication.Lakes and wetlands help in maintaining environmental stability and are considered as kidneys of the landscape as they absorb extra water, acting as a sponge for the urban landscape.India Today’s Open-Source Intelligence(OSINT) team has produced a land usage map to classify Delhi’s landscape into urban or built-up areas, cropland, barren land, water bodies, and vegetation.Data from Sentinel 2 satellite in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. You must only respond with the modified content. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. 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The disappearance of lakes has contributed to the ongoing flooding issues in Delhi.
