At least five truckloads of garbage was recently removed from Naini Lake, a popular tourist spot in Uttarakhand.
The alarming level of pollution came to light when Nainital civic bodies started cleaning the lake twice a day during monsoon, starting June last week.
Officials attributed the contamination of the lake to the drains that flow into the water body.
"During the three months of monsoon, the 63 drains that flow into the Naini Lake bring a lot of garbage. This is why the civic body has deployed around 40 people who consistently clean the lake," said Dharmender Kumar, in-charge of civic body for lake cleaning.
The rising level of pollution in the lake has sparked fears of environmental hazards.
Environmentalist Naveen Kumar explained that Nainital district was geographically designed to avoid scouring, whereby small drains were made to flow into the lake from surrounding mountains. Since at that time, pollution levels were not as aggravated, the lake received clean water from these mountain drains.
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However, as urbanization took place in Nainital, the mountain drains were infested with sewage from households and commercial settlements. The use of plastic bags further exacerbated the situation.
"Most importantly, water from the big drains flowing into the lake must be treated for cleanliness. Secondly, we must ensure that city drainage is not let into smaller drains coming from the mountains. We must ensure that household sewage system is kept separate from the drains that flow into the lake. We will have to look into these things," highlighted Kumar.
He also called for greater awareness among locals and tourists to preserve the lake.