📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / UnpetitproleX
Science
Himachal’s Glacial Lakes Grow Fivefold in 30 Years, Threatening Infrastructure
✍️ News18
🗓 24 Aug 2026, 08:03 PM
👁 2
A study shows that the number and size of glacial lakes in Himachal Pradesh have expanded fivefold over the past three decades, raising concerns for roads, bridges and settlements in the mountains.
A recent scientific assessment of Himachal Pradesh’s high‑altitude catchments reveals that glacial lakes have multiplied and enlarged to five times their 1990 levels. The analysis, based on satellite imagery and field surveys, tracks the change over a thirty‑year period.
The rapid expansion of these water bodies is alarming for the state’s infrastructure. Roads that wind along steep valleys, bridges spanning narrow gorges, and villages perched near lake margins are increasingly vulnerable to sudden outburst floods that can occur when a lake breaches its moraine dam.
State officials and disaster‑management agencies are now urged to prioritize detailed mapping and continuous monitoring of the most volatile lakes. Integrating the findings into future road‑building and settlement‑planning projects is seen as essential to mitigate potential loss of life and economic damage.
The rapid expansion of these water bodies is alarming for the state’s infrastructure. Roads that wind along steep valleys, bridges spanning narrow gorges, and villages perched near lake margins are increasingly vulnerable to sudden outburst floods that can occur when a lake breaches its moraine dam.
State officials and disaster‑management agencies are now urged to prioritize detailed mapping and continuous monitoring of the most volatile lakes. Integrating the findings into future road‑building and settlement‑planning projects is seen as essential to mitigate potential loss of life and economic damage.