nainital as the sun moves through the panoramic hills that surround the naini lake each morning a fleet of boats in all shades of colour with excited tourists crouching in tiny spaces becomes a common sight not much has changed in the scene since 1970s except that today much to the dismay of tourists water level in the lake has dwindled drastically ldquoone has to only look at how the shoreline of the lake has receded this year seems to be exceptionally badrdquo said 50yearold boatman rajendra prasad shilpi this summer water in the lake which is the only source of supply to the town has plunged to an unprecedented 18 feet below normal according to data available with the irrigation department talking to toi dcs khetwal chief engineer kumaon zone irrigation department said ldquothe water level at the lake has been continuously declining and has dipped 18 feet below normal this yearrdquo at the southern end of the lake known as tallitaal the surface has been marked lsquozerorsquo the depth of the lake and water level is measured by adopting this mark as a base vishal singh a senior research scholar from centre for ecology development and research cedar said ldquoin the monsoon the water level reaches 12 feet above this zero mark which is considered the normal level of water at present the water level is 18 feet below the 12 feet mark considered normal in the past few summers the water level has been recorded at three to four feet below zero last year in may the level of water was two feet below zero in the 1970s when the quaint town was emerging as a popular shooting destination for bollywood and real estate developers had started arriving the water level during summer would be measured at one feet below the zero mark ajay singh rawat former head of the department of history of kumaun university who has been campaigning for long to save the lake said ldquothe level of water in the body is now reported to be 18 feet below normal something that i have never witnessed the lake is going to turn into a mere pond if strict steps are not takenrdquo experts have blamed illegal construction felling of trees concretisation of catchment area and destruction of natural springs for the present state of affairs ldquoof the 60 natural springs in the city that recharged the lake only 30 exist today and even those have alarmingly decreased water flowrdquo said rawat another contributing factor as pointed out by experts is the neglect of sukhatal which recharges more than 50 of the lake singh said ldquodespite strong evidence through research conducted by the national institute of hydrology approximately 20 years ago about the importance of sukhatal it was blatantly neglected by the authoritiesrdquo a study carried out by cedar in collaboration with cambridge university in 2015 found that sukhatal provides more than 40 subsurface flow to naini lake round the year especially during drier months