Sengupta, M. and Dalwani, R. (Editors).

2008
Proceedings of Taal 2007: The 12th World Lake Conference: 2110-2125

Hydrodynamics of the Upper Bhopal Lake, M.P., India

Vijay K. Dwivedi and V.K. Choubey
Scientist‘E1’, Scientist ‘F’ & Head, Env. Hyd. Div., NIH, Roorkee, India

ABSTRACT

The Upper Bhopal Lake in the city of Bhopal in the State of Madhya Pradesh of India is the only source
of water for the city of Bhopal. Economic as well as recreational activities of the city of Bhopal is
dependent on the water availability in the Upper Bhopal Lake which receives water as surface runoff
only during monsoon period of every year. Though, the lake exists for more than 1100 years, neither any
data on hydrological characteristics of catchment of the lake was available nor any hydrological model
was available for predicting runoff reaching to the lake from its catchment. The Upper Bhopal Lake has
a catchment area of 362.35 square kilometer. The land use pattern of about 80% of the catchment is
agricultural, where as 5% is of forest and the rest is urban. Since the onset of monsoon in the catchment
area by 15th June every year, the agricultural area starts contributing by the end of August where as the
lake starts receiving surface runoff right from the beginning of monsoon season as runoff from the urban
area. In this paper detailed features of the lake, inventory of the available data for the lake and its
catchment has been investigated, report on the circulation pattern and thermal structure in the lake have
been presented. It as been concluded that lake water gets mixed only during monsoon season when the
runoff from agricultural catchment of the lake starts reaching to the lake. During rest of the year only
upper layer of the lake gets mixed where as the lower layers get stagnated. Detailed hydrodynamics of
the lake has been presented

Keywords: The Upper Bhopal Lake, hydrological characteristics, circulation pattern, thermal structure,
stagnation

INTRODUCTION yield from catchment of the lake and investigate

From hydrology point of view, lakes are considered
as storage elements of a local or regional hydrologic
system. They alter the quantity and quality regime of
the water flowing through the system. In India,
quantity of water in lakes in all geographical regions
is decreasing and quality of the lake water is
deteriorating day by day. On the other hand need of
water is increasing day by day. Therefore, there is a
strong need for study of all hydrological aspects of
lakes for better management of the lakes, their
recharge zones and to restore the health of lakes. In
order to understand in totality the hydrology of lakes
to conserve water in forms of quantity, quality and
regimen, understanding of lake catchment processes
in Indian conditions involving hydrology and
hydraulics of the catchment, sediment yield from
catchment, water balance of lakes, hydrodynamics of
the lake etc. is essential. All these processes are
governed by the available water in the lake for which
real time water balance of the lake must be known.
The information on real time availability of water
can only be made available to the users and planners
if hydro-meteorological data for the lake and its
catchment are available.
With this conceptual thinking, this study was
undertaken to investigate detailed feature of the
Upper Bhopal Lake in the State of Madhya Pradesh
of India, to prepare an inventory of data for the
Upper Bhopal Lake, to develop a hydrological model
for runoff production and estimation of sediment
hydrodynamics of the lake because the lake is used
for supplying only drinking water to a population of
about 2.5 million population of city of Bhopal. The
lake is also important for fishery and tourism. In this
paper only hydrodynamics of the lake has been
reported.
STUDY AREA:
The Upper Bhopal Lake
The Bhopal Lake system consisting of
interconnected Upper Bhopal Lake (UBL) and
Lower Bhopal Lake (LBL) is located in the middle of
city of Bhopal (Figure 1) in the state of Madhya
Pradesh (M.P.) of India at latitutde of 23o 04’ N,
longitude of 72o 18’ E, and at an altitude of 508.65 m
above mean sea level. Orientation of LBL with
respect to UBL is such that LBL gets its input
through seepage from UBL (Figure 2). At full tank
level (FTL), water spread area of UBL is about 34
square kilometer where as that of LBL is about 1
square kilometer.
UBL (Figure 3) is the only fresh water resource
for providing drinking water to a population of about
2.5 million of city of Bhopal. LBL is used only for
washing of clothes. Therefore, study has been
undertaken for UBL. Due to continued reduction of
volume of water in UBL, supply of drinking water to
the people of Bhopal has been cut down drastically
over the years, inflow of tourists to Bhopal has
reduced slowing down the economic activities in the
region around the lakes. Due to reduced water spread
area of the UBL, ecology of the surrounding has got
altered due to which number of migratory birds
visiting BL has gone down. Due to continued
reduction in lake capacity, fisheries has also reduced
thereby affecting people dependent on fisheries for
their livelihood.
Figure .1 : Geographical location of the city of
Bhopal and Topographical layout of the Upper
Bhopal Lake
The present state of UBL is such that a vast area
of the former water spread is either replaced with
silted landmass or covered with aquatic weeds. This
has posed a serious threat to the quality and the
effectively usable quantity of fresh water from UBL
for Bhopal city public water supply scheme which is
already under heavy load due to absence of alternate
water sources and ever increasing demand due to
growing population and industrialization of the
region. During pre-monsoon season, some parts of
UBL gets completely dry and converted into football
field. Over the years, water spread area of UBL has
shrunk drastically. Catchment of the lake system
comprises of a myriad of interconnecting streams as
shown in the figure 1.
Catchment area of the Upper Bhopal Lake is
362 square kilometer which is about 10 times more
than the lake area of about 36 square kilometer at
highest water level of the lake and about 20 times
more than the lake area of about 18 square kilometer
averaged during any particular year. The Upper
Bhopal Lake (UBL) has a partial urban component in
its catchment on the eastern end while the remainder
is rural (Figure 2). UBL and LBL are separated in a
terraced manner by the earthen dam on river Kolans
built by King Bhoj in the 11th century and the lowest
level of UBL is just below the highest level of the
LBL.
Figure 2 : Orientation of the Upper Bhopal Lake
and the Lower Bhopal Lake
Figure 3 : Panoramic view of the upper Bhopal
Lake, M.P., India
The lake system got formed by Raja Bhoj about
1100 years ago by constructing an earthen dam on
the river Kolans at Bhojpur, about 60 km north of
Bhopal, having a water spread area of more than
1000 square kilometer for providing drinking and
irrigation water to his subjects and to create an
aesthetic environment. About 460 years ago, major
portion of the lake was reclaimed by Mugal Emperor
for agricultural purpose by constructing an earthen
dam on river Kolans at its present lcoation, Kamla
Park, leaving only about 100 square kilometer of
water spread area. Therefore, the upstream portion of
the lake is shallow. At that time population of
Bhopal was so meager that 100 square kilometer of
water spread area of the lake was thought to fulfill
drinking and irrigation water requirement throughout
the year. Since then population has exploded
2111
exponentially, lake area has been encroached, sediment with it. Further, the ever-increasing
catchment area has been cleared off its forest and population has resulted in reclamation of marshes
shrub, urbanization has taken place leaving the lake into land for habitation, leading to encroachments
to its present area of about 36 square kilometer. and putting stress on ecosystem. The silt inflow from
Present population of about 2.5 millions of Bhopal river Kolans stream also carries nutrients to the lake
City depends only on UBL for their all water from the catchment which either gets locked up in
requirement, even for drinking water requirement. the macrophytes or deposited in the already enriched
Right from the month of January every year, hue and bed sediments. Development of deltas at the mouth
cry for water starts in the city of Bhopal, rationing of of the river merging into the lake has verified that the
water is started because lake water capacity starts lake is being continuously filled with detritus
decreasing. Over time upstream portion of the lake material.
has become quiet shallow due to continued
deposition of sediment in this portion. Downstream Table I : Morphology of the Upper Bhopal Lake
portion of the lake is the deepest portion of the lake
bounded by urban population all around the lake. Water Water Water Volume of
Lake is declared non-functional for the month of Level (m) Level Spread Area Water
May and June due to decreased water capacity of the (feet) (Sq.Km.) ( M. Cubic
Meter)
lake. Only small portion in downstream side of the
506.0 1660.1 29.72 57.21
lake is able to quench thirst of people of city of 506.1 1660.4 30.3 62.19
Bhopal. The lake starts receiving water from rainfall 506.2 1660.8 30.89 63.24
since beginning of July bringing relief to the thirsty 506.3 1661.1 31.82 66.31
populace. If it is a drought period, then people have 506.4 1661.4 32.2 69.49
to live without water throughout the draught period. 506.5 1661.7 33.17 72.72
Still encroachment of the lake is continued both by 506.6 1662.1 33.92 76.04
public as well as by the government machinery. 506.7 1662.4 34.75 79.42
The upstream part of UBL is the western part of 506.8 1662.7 36.09 82.96
the lake and is very shallow. The downstream part of 506.9 1663.1 37.54 86.57
the lake is eastern part of the lake and is deeper
portion of the lake. The deeper part of the lake is just Still attentions have not been focused on the
like a bowl in which water is available throughout hydrological studies of the upper Bhopal Lake and its
the year and is used for providing drinking water to catchment and hydrodynamic study of the lake.
the city of Bhopal. The maximum depth of water in Even observation of hydro-meteorological and
the deeper part of the lake varies from 7.0 meter in hydrological data for the lake and its catchment has
the post monsoon season to 5.0 meter in the pre- not been thought of. Almost all the research studies
monsoon season. Where as the depth of water in the on the Upper Bhopal Lake have been done on the
upstream portion is about 2.0 meter in post monsoon biological aspects of the lake. Piecemeal work on
season to 0.5 meter during pre-monsoon season. water quality and eutrophication at irregular periods
Maximum volume of the lake is 108.00 Mm3. The has been reported from time to time but they are not
average annual rainfall in the catchment area of the sufficient for detailed analysis and monitoring of
lake is 1050 mm. health of the lake. No water balance has so far been
reported for the Upper Bhopal Lake. Neither any
Present Status of the Upper Bhopal Lake hydrological model has been developed for
predicting water availability in the lake. Though
The present state of the lake is that a vast area of the sedimentation is seriously affecting the life of the
former water spread is either replaced with silted Upper Bhopal Lake, no study on sediment erosion
land mass or covered with aquatic weeds (plate 1) and deposition has been taken up for the Upper
and this situation is prominent during the drought Bhopal Lake and its catchment area. The
seasons. This has posed serious threat to the quality hydrodynamic aspects of lake has also not been
and the effectively usable quantity of water from the thought of.
lake for Bhopal city public water supply scheme Therefore, a project “Integrated hydrological
which is already under heavy load due to absence of study of Upper Bhoopal Lake and its eco-system”
alternate water sources and on the other hand ever was uundertaken to be able to project future scenario
increasing demand due to growing population and of the lake. Under this study long term hydro-
industrialization of the area. The present meteorological data for the lake and its catchment
morphometry of the lake is given below in Table – I. were observed, rainfall-runoff-sediment yield model
The only source of inflow to the lake, river for the catchment of the lake was developed,
Kolans brings a lot of sediment inflow from the hydrological model for real time water availability of
agricultural land. Agricultural inflow also enters the lake were developed and hydrodynamics of the
from the periphery on southwestern side of the lake lake was investigated. Different types of data
from non-point source and brings heavy dose of observed were space oriented data, time oriented

2112
data, relation oriented data, meteorological data,
hydrological data, ground water data, water quality
data, and temperature data.
In this paper the status of the data inventory for
the lake and its catchment and the hydrodynamic
characteristics of the lake water are presented.

Inventory of the Hydro-meteorological Data for

the Upper Bhopal Lake

Land-use/Land-cover of catchment of the Upper

Bhopal Lake is given in table –II. Available hydro-
meteorological data for the Upper Bhopal Lake and
its catchment are ggiven in table –III. Location of
observational station in the catchment is shown in
Figure-4.
Figure 4 : Location of observation station in
catchment of the Upper Bhopal Lake

Table II: Land-use/Land-cover of catchment of the Upper Bhopal Lake

Sl. Description 1984- 1988 1992-1993 1999-2000 Remarks

No. 1985 (Sq. Km) (Sq. Km)
(Sq. Km) (Sq.
Km)
1. Built-up land 14.24 19.075 20.855 25.667 Area increasing because of
urbanization
2. Crop land 258.817 250.911 219.05 197.265
3. Plantation -- 0.67 0.67 .58 Agricultural activity
decreasing
4. Open Forest 5.0 4.939 4.225 3.825 Area decreasing
5. Land with/without scrub 41.355 52.827 90.292 106.45 Highly increasing
6. Barren Rocky/Stony 13.645 10.975 8.465 3.295 Decreasing due to
urbanization
7. Waterlogged 3.75 - - - Waterlogged area had
vanished
8. Aquatic Vegetation 0.77 1.075 5.875 9.175 Increasing rapidly
9. Exposed Lake Bed 12.525 11.351 5.745 2.325 Reducing
10. Lakes and Ponds 22.32 20.075 16.17 9.095 Water spread area of the lake
drastically reduced
11. Total Geographical Area 372.352 372.352 372.352 372.352
Source : (i) Municipal Corporation, Bhopal 2005.

Table III: Availability of data for the Upper Bhopal Lake and its Catchment

Meteorological Data
Source Observation Parameters Available Period of Remarks
Station Availability
From To
Indian Bairagarh, • Twice Daily Rainfall 1975 2005 Acquisition on
Meteolorogical Bhopal • Maximum & Minimum payment basis from
Department Temperature Indian Meteorological
• Dry & Wet Bulb Department.
Temperature
• Relative Humidity
• Vapor Pressure
• Sunshine Duration
• Wind Speed and
Direction
Central Institute of Nabibagh, • Twice Daily Rainfall 1980 2005 Acquisition free of

2113
Agricultural Bhopal • Twice Daily Pan cost from Central
Engineering, Evaporation Data Institute of
Bhopal, India • Maximum & Minimum Agricultural
Temperature Engineering,
• Dry & Wet Bulb Nabibagh, Bhopal
temperature
• Relative Humidity
• Vapor Pressure
• Sunshine Duration
• Wind Speed and
Direction
Public Health Uljawan, Distt- • Daily Rainfall 1980 1988 Acquisition, free of
Engineering Bhopal (During monsoon season) cost from Public
Department, Govt. Health Engineering
of M.P., Bhopal Department, Bhopal
Kolans, Distt.- • Daily Rainfall 1980 1998
Bhopal (During monsoon season)
National Institute of Mugaliya Chaap Twice daily Rainfall, Max. & 2002 2005 Acquisition, free of
Hydrology, Roorkee Min. Temperature, Dry & cost from National
Wet Bulb Temperature, Institute of Hydrology,
Evaporation, Soil Roorkee
Temperature and daily
sunshine duration
Phanda Twice daily Rainfall,
Bamuliya Twice daily Rainfall,
The Upper Twice daily Evaporation
Bhopal Lake

Table III : Availability of data for the Upper Bhopal Lake and its Catchment (Contd…)

Source Observation Parameters Available Period of Remarks

Station Availability
From To
Hydrological Data
Public Health Bhadabhada • Twice Daily Water 1980 2001 Acquisition without
Engineering Spillway, Surface Level of Upper any cost from Public
Department, Govt. Bhopal Bhopal Lake Health Engineering
of M.P., Bhopal • Hourly water Surface Department, Bhopal
Level of Upper Bhopal Lake
during period of heavy 1988 1994
rainfall
• Opening of gate of
spillway
Public Health Uljawan, Distt- • Twice Daily Gauge 1980 1994 Acquisition on
Engineering Bhopal Reading of river Kolans at payment basis from
Department, Govt. Uljawan Public Health
of M.P., Bhopal Engineering
Department, Bhopal.
Kolans, Distt.- • Twice Daily Gauge 1980 1994 Acquisition from
Bhopal Reading of river Kolans at Public Health
Kolans Engineering
Department, Bhopal.
Department of Bhopal • Soil Survey of Bhopal 1999 Available from
Agriculture, District Department of
Govt. of M.P., Agriculture,
Bhopal Vindhyachal Bhawan,
Bhopal
Department of Bhopal • Cropping pattern and Done in Available from
Agriculture land use pattern in the 1994 Department of
catchment area of Upper Agriculture,
Bhopal Lake Vindhyachal Bhawan,
Bhopal
Ground Water Bhopal • Data of Ground Water 1978 1992 Available from
Survey observation wells in the area Department of

2114
Circle of Water surrounding the lake and its Availab Agriculture,
Resources Dept. of catchment le from Vindhyachal Bhawan,
Govt. of M.P. • Data from DWLR in the 2002 Bhopal
observation wells in the onward
catchment s

Table - III : Availability of data for the Upper Bhopal Lake and its Catchment (Contd…)

Source Observation Parameters Available Period of Remarks

Station Availability
National Institute of The Upper Twice daily water level 2002 2005 Acquisition, free
Hydrology, Roorkee Bhopal Lake reading of UBL of cost from
Periphery of the Water withdrawal data 2002 2005 National Institute
Upper Bhopal of Hydrology,
Lake Roorkee
Catchment of the Discharge and sediment load Monsoo 2002
Upper Bhopal data in River Kolans and n to
Lake Nilhji period 2005
Catchment of the Length, slope and areal extent
Upper Bhopal of each stream of different
Lake order in the catchment
Catchment of the Water level data in ground 2003 2005
Upper Bhopal water observation wells in the
Lake catchment area of the lake and
in vicinity of the lake
Deepest portion Half hourly water temperature 2003 2005
of the Upper data at depth interval of half
Bhopal Lake meter at an interval of ten days

Hydrodynamics of the Upper Bhopal Lake
The term hydrodynamics in lake studies include the
processes such as turbulence characteristics of
horiozontal currents, seiches, thermal regime,
vertical exchange and eddy diffusion in case of
vertically stratified lakes and water retention time.
The need for the knowledge of hydrodynamics of the
lake arises when one is interested to know the fate of
pollutants or any unwanted material is introduced
into the lake. However, the actual field data required
are often not available to fully understand and model
the processes listed above. In the present study
carried out in the Upper Bhopal Lake, an attempt has
been made to understand hydrodynamics of the lake
by describing the thermal regime of the lake. The
thermal regime of a lake is of great importance, as
temperature differences and/or gradients induces
circulation in the water mass of the lake, influences
the chemical and biochemical reaction rates within
the water mass of the lake. It also acts as a tracer of
mass transport in the water column, so that heat
balance may be considered as a primary tool for
estimating vertical mixing rates.
Thermal Regime of the Upper Bhopal Lake
Thermal regimes of lakes is basically a result of heat
& momentum transfer across the surface of the lake
and also due to force of gravity acting on density
differences within the lake. In general the heat
transfer at the surface tends to raise the temperature
of the surface water during summer and lower during
winter. Therefore, the temperature difference at the
top of water surface and bottom of the lake give rise
to the mixing currents, but in summers these currents
make a small depth cycle while during winter when
the top layer becomes cooler in comparision to
deeper, the sinking process starts which has greater
mixing effects. Thus, the lakes of medium depth
undergoes a complete mixing process and remains
well mixed during winters while stratified during
summers. This phenomena is a consequences of
several meteorological & other factors. The mixing
and stratification behavior of the lake is discussed
below:
The chemical characteristics of water,
metabolism, physiology and behavior of aquatic
organism are related directly to the temperature of
the aquatic environment. Extreme higher temperature
causes precipitates of dissolved salts in water, give
rise to microbes and aquatic plants in the system.
Extreme lower temperature restricts the growth and
distribution of the plants, animals, and microbes.
Because of high specific heat of water, the
temperature of large volume of water changes
slowly. Therefore, large lakes tend to moderate the
local climate. The temperature is one of the main
causes of motion and mixing of lake water.
Therefore, the thermal structure, stratification of
water masses and circulation patterns of lakes are
function of thermal structure in the lake water and
have profound effects on the nutrient cycling (spread
of pollutants) and distribution of dissolved gases and

2115
the biota. For these reasons, the thermal structure of a
lake must be known with some degree of accuracy in
limnological studies.
The depths versus temperature plots at different
season of the year depict the seasonal changes in the
temperature distribution in the lake. During winter,
the lake may be considered as well mixed as there is
negligible difference in the temperature of surface
and the bottom water. During spring, as a
consequence of rise in air temperature, thermal
stratification, though quite weak is established. With
the advent of summer and increase in solar radiation,
the stratification is intensified. The mixing due to
wind action, if any, is confined only to the surface
layer (called epilimnion). The water of the bottom
layer (called hypolimnion) remains cut off from the
influence of wind. At this juncture, the lake is said to
be stably stratified. The layer that separates
eplilimnion and hypolimnion layers is called
mesolimnion or metalimnion. The middle layer is
also called thermocline. It is to be noted at this point
that the term thermocline is also frequently used in
the literature to denote the plane that passes through
the points of maximum decrease in temperature with
depth.
The stable stratification that persists during
monsoon tends to become unstable during late
monsoon and early winter, mainly due to falling air
temperature resulting in net heat loss from the lake.
During this period strong vertical mixing
(convection) takes place. The process of convection,
coupled with the increased action of wind results in
the deepening of surface layer (sinking of
thermocline) and complete mixing of lake takes
place. This final phenomenon is called “winter
overturn”. Therefore, a moderately deep lake
undergoes two distinct stages namely complete
mixed stage and a stratified stage of minimal mixing.
Temperature Measurement in the Upper Bhopal
Lake
Temperature of water in the Upper Bhopal Lake at
one location in the deepest portion of the lake, were
measured at 50 cm interval of depth of water with the
help of water temperature data loggers arranged in a
vertical chain, placed at an interval of 50 cm of
vertical depth. The chain having temperature loggers
were placed in the lake from early morning to late
evening but could not be placed in the lake during
night time due to security reasons. Data from
temperatures loggers were retrieved with the help of
a optical data shuttle.
Description of Hydrodynamics of the Upper
Bhopal Lake
The thermal characteristics of the Upper Bhopal
Lake are shown in figures 5 to 28. The surface water
2116
temperature ranges from 19.0 oC to 38.0 oC over a
year. The temperature of water in the bottom of the
lake also varies from 17.0 oC to 37.0 oC over a year.
The lake is thermally well mixed during the period of
January to February as shown in the figure 5 to 7.
Day time temperature of lake water during the month
of January is in the range of 18.0 to 20.0 oC where as
day time temperature of lake water during the month
of February is in the range of 20.0 to 26.0 oC.
However, there is no difference between top and
bottom water are observed during January and
February. During January the lake continues to lose
energy and the minimum temperature condition is
observed in the entire column of lake water. During
March, day time temperature of lake water starts
rising. Rise of temperature is observed in entire
column of lake water as evident from figure 8 to 9.
During the month of April the solar radiation is high
and at the same time wind is also very high due to
which there is vigorous mixing of lake water. Due to
this vigorous mixing the water temperate in middle
of water column is low but temperature on surface of
water is high due to high solar radiation and air
temperature. Temperature at bottom of water column
is higher because mixing is not being able to
penetrate up to bottom of the water column.
Temperature characteristics of lake water column is
shown in figure 10 to 11.
During the month of May, lake water is also
completely mixed. Temperature in the middle of lake
water column is higher as shown in the figure 12.
This effect is due to release of wastewater from a
nearby hotel industry. During the month of June the
temperature of surface water of lake starts rising.
Since the lake is well mixed the temperature of water
at bottom of lake also rises, though temperature of
water at bottom of the lake is slightly lower than the
water surface temperature as shown in figure 13.
Monsoon flow to the lake from catchment starts
reaching to the lake by the end of June and this
monsoon flow reaches to the lake in the form of
density current in the middle of depth of the lake.
Temperature of monsoon flow is lower than the
temperature of lake water mass as shown in figure 16
to 21. Monsoon flow from its agricultural catchments
continues till the beginning of September. Due to
monsoon flow there is stratification of the lake. The
warmer lower portion remains warmer and the upper
portion remains warmer due to surface heat. The
continuous flow from catchment maintains the
stratification and at the same time circulation sets in
due to underlying warm water mass at bottom of the
lake. Thus, cold water trapped in warmer water mass
of the lake causes circulation of lake water as the
colder water mass sinks to the bottom of the lake and
the warmer water mass from the bottom of the lake is
uplifted to the surface of the lake water.
Figure 5 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake in the beginning of January
Figure 6 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of January
Figure 7 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of February

2117
Figure 8 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of March
Figure 9 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of March
Figure 10 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of April

2118
Figure 11 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of April
Figure 12 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of May
Figure 13 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of May

2119
Figure 14 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the beginning of June
Figure 15 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of June
Figure 16 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of June

2120
Figure 17 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of July
Figure 18 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of July
Figure 19 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the beginning of August

2121
Figure 20 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of August
Figure 21 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of August
Figure 22 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of September

2122
Figure 23 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of September
Figure 24 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of October
Figure 25 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of October

2123
Figure 26 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the middle of November
Figure 27 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of November
Figure 28 : Temperature profile at deepest portion of the Upper Bhopal Lake during the end of December

During the summer month of April to June, due
to rise in water temperature, dissolved oxygen of
water decreases which leads to death of aquatic
animals in the lake. Due to overturning of lake water
caused by monsoon flow, the dead aquatic animals
appear on the surface of lake during and after the
monsoon season. After the monsoon season, the lake
is totally mixed during the month of October to
December as shown in the figure 24 to 28. During
day time temperature at the water surface is observed
to be slightly higher than temperature at the bottom

2124
of lake water. This confirms natural property of
water mass of a lake.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors are grateful to National Institute of
Hydrology, which funded the project titled
“Integrated Hydrological Studies of the Upper
Bhopal Lake and Its catchment”, during which the
field data were observed. Thanks, are especially due
to Dr. K.D. Sharma, Director, and National Institute
of Hydrology for periodical monitoring of the project
activities and valuable suggestions to fulfill the
project activities. The present paper is from the work
done during the mentioned project. Author express
thanks to the officials of the Municipal Corporation,
Bhopal for allowing conducting experimentation in
the Upper Bhopal Lake and putting observational
instruments in and around the Upper Bhopal Lake
and to the Officials of Department of Public Health
Engineering (PHE Dept.), Bhopal for providing
infrastructural support for setting up observational
network in the city of Bhopal.
REFERENCES
Dwivedi, Vijay Kumar (1996), “Status Report on
Environmental Aspects of Lake Hydrology in India”,
UNDP Project Report No. IND/90/003 of National
Institute of Hydrology, |Roorkee, India.
Ground Water Survey Circle of Water Resources
Department of Government of Madhya Pradesh,
Bhopal, Report, (1978), “Ground water observation
in the wells in Bhopal District”.
MAPCOST Report, (1996),’A report on Bhoj Notified
Wetland, Bhopal”.
Municipal Corporation of Bhopal Report, (2000),”Planning
for development of City of Bhopal”.
National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India (1992),
“Hydrological Developments in India since
Independence”, A contribution to Hydrological
Sciences.
Prasad, D.Y. (1990),”Primary Productivity and Energy
Flow in Upper Lake, Bhopal”, I.J. Environ Health,
Vol. 32, No.2, pp. 132 - 139.
Soil Resource Atlas of Bhopal District, 1999, published by
National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use
Planning (Indian Council of Agricultural Research),
Nagpur, India.
2125