Wular turns toxic, women harvesters watch generations-old livelihood fade

Srinagar, Jul 15: Every morning before sunrise, dozens of women from villages surrounding Kashmir’s Wular Lake push their wooden boats into the sprawling freshwater body to harvest green water chestnuts, a seasonal occupation that has sustained their families for generations.
But this year, they say, the work has become harder, the harvest smaller and the lake itself increasingly hostile.
Standing for hours in waist-deep water, many women now wear gloves and face masks to protect themselves from what they describe as foul-smelling, polluted water that leaves their hands itching and causes skin rashes after prolonged exposure.
“In earlier years, one woman could collect over 30 kilograms of water chestnuts in a day. Now we barely manage 10 to 15 kilograms,” 45-year-old harvester Shafeeqa Begum from Lankreshipora village said.
“The water has turned dark and gives off a bad smell. Without gloves, our hands start itching. We grew up working in this lake, but now we fear entering it,” she said.
The women, who harvest the edible crop between July and September, said falling water levels, dense weed growth and deteriorating water quality have sharply reduced both the quantity and quality of the produce, cutting into the earnings of fishing households that depend on the seasonal harvest.
Another harvester, Ateeqa Bano, said spending long hours in the lake has become physically difficult.
“We spend the entire morning inside the water. Earlier it was clean and refreshing, but now there is an unpleasant smell everywhere. Many women develop skin rashes after working in the lake,” she said.
Their concerns have gained significance following a recent study published in the journal *Scientific Reports*, which detected traces of heavy metals, including cadmium, chromium, nickel, zinc and iron, in edible water chestnuts collected from Wular and other major wetlands in Kashmir.
The researchers warned that increasing pollution in freshwater wetlands could pose risks to both aquatic ecosystems and human health, and recommended continuous environmental monitoring, improved wastewater treatment and stricter pollution-control measures.
For the women who depend on the lake for their livelihood, however, the changes have been visible for years.
“We don’t need any scientific report to tell us that Wular is deteriorating,” said Shareefa Begum, another harvester. “We see the water changing every season. We smell the pollution every day and feel it on our skin. Our livelihood is disappearing before our eyes.”
The women said the shrinking harvest has made it increasingly difficult to support their families, with many returning home after hours of labour with only a fraction of what they once collected.
They also urged authorities to accelerate conservation efforts and involve local women, who spend months working inside the lake every year, in its restoration.
“We know this lake better than anyone because we live with it every day,” one of the harvesters said. “If Wular dies, our work, our income and a tradition passed down through generations will disappear with it.” (KNO)