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Manasbal Lake is a picturesque freshwater body located to North of the beautiful Sind Valley of Kashmir and is surrounded by majestic hills and scenic beauty. It is the deepest of all freshwater lakes located in Safapora village in the Ganderbal District of Jammu and Kashmir. Often referred to as the "Supreme gem of all the lakes of Kashmir", this Lake is an oasis of tranquillity for those who appreciate bird watching and have a great love for nature while visiting Manasbal Lake during the summertime when the lotuses bloom. The best time to visit Manasbal Lake is between May-October because the weather during this period is most favourable for outdoor activities and sightseeing. Manasbal Lake can be reached easily by vehicle and is approximately 30 km from Srinagar city. The road leading to Manasbal Lake - the largest freshwater lake in Kashmir - passes directly through Wular Lake via Safapora. The closest airport to this Lake is Srinagar located 43 km away from Wular Lake. The Vande Bharat train operates between Katra Railway Station and the Kashmir Valley.
Manasbal derives its name from the ancient Manasrover Lake. It is surrounded by three villages — Jarokbal, Kondabal, and Gratbal. The remains of the Jharokha Bagh Fort built by a Mughal ruler in the early 1600s with an aim to provide rest facilities for traders travelling between Punjab and Srinagar are situated just north of the lake. South of Manasbal is a hill Ahtung from which limestone is obtained. The eastern section of Manasbal is dominated by the foothills of the Pir Panjal range while the northern portion of the lake is characterised by elevated plateaus called Karewas that consist of fluvial, lacustrine and loessic sediment layers.
Lake Manasbal is an enormous body of water located in Jammu and Kashmir. Its total area of water covers 2,812 square kilometres (1,083 square miles), its maximum length is approximately five kilometres (3 miles) and its maximum width is approximately two kilometres (1 mile). Due to its depth and clarity, it has become known as "the deepest fresh water lake in India". The average depth of Lake Manasbal is 4.5 metres (15 ft.), with the deepest areas reaching a maximum of 13 metres (45 ft). At an elevation of 1583 metres (5194 feet), Lake Manasbal remains an important source of fresh water for the local community and is also an important source of food, including fish and many types of edible forage plants. Recently, there has been a significant increase in tourist activity at Lake Manasbal, and there are now high levels of tourism-related impacts on the local ecosystem. The flowering lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) around the lake's edges enhances the beauty of the otherwise clear waters of Lake Manasbal. Edible lotus rootstocks are harvested and consumed as food by the local population.
Human activity has caused this water body to evolve into an ecologically productive environment called 'eutrophic'. During the Summer months, the bottom of Manasbal is very congested with aquatic vegetative plants known as submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV). The warm monomictic lakes tend to have only one turnover per year, while all of the remaining lakes of this area either exhibit very little stratification (polymictic) or have weak stratification (monomictic). Since there are no major inflow streams flowing into this body of water, the main source is from groundwater aquifers (spring water) and precipitation. Manasbal’s outflow from the lake into River Jhelum (Jhelum) is limited to a regulated outflow that is controlled by human intervention, the Wular-Manasbal Development Authority (WMDA), which is an advisory body created under the government's direction in 2007 to provide assistance for the rehabilitation of the lake and to improve its overall environment. WMDA has taken numerous steps to restore the ecological balance and enhance the overall quality of Manasbal and, therefore, will continue to accomplish this through its many initiatives.
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