Ooty: The iconic Ooty lake was virtually built by John Sullivan, the founder of modern Nilgiris. The work on the lake to ‘combine beauty with utility’ was started in January 1823 and completed in June-July 1825, personally supervised by Sullivan and carried out by a ‘special caste of tank diggers’, said the hill
district veteran
Dr Dharmalingam Venugopal, the director of Nilgiris Documentation Centre (NDC). Sullivan, as Sir Thomas Munro the then Governor of Madras noted in a letter to his wife later, “made a little loch, about two miles long and a quarter of mile broad, by damming up a rivulet with an immense mound. The lake resembled a river winding beautifully among the smooth green hills”, he noted.
But the principal object of the formation of it was much more spectacular. Sullivan wanted to store enough water in the lake so as to irrigate the distant plains of Segur (in Mudumalai now) and Erode, 120 kilo meters away, during the drought season. However, this proposal was rejected by the then British regime as it involved a very great expense. The estimate Sullivan submitted for his grand plan was Rs 2,000 then, Mr. Venugopal pointed out.
“In 1830, the lake breached due to heavy rains empting most of the waters. While restoring the breached dam, a causeway was built lined with Willow Bund, present Main Bus stand, in 1831. The dam leaked again and nearly breached in 1846. In 1852, however, a major breach left the lake ‘completely dry’. The lake has survived since then without any mishap. By 1897 the upper half of the lake was drained and turned into a fine race course. Up to 1851 a greater portion of the native population of Ooty was using the water of the lake for drinking purposes. After that sewage and weeds became a perennial problem for the lake” he explained.
While over the decades the emptying of sewage has marred its quality, the Ooty lake has continued to cheer millions of tourists over the decades besides featuring in a many memorable movies. Concerted and unrelenting efforts are needed to preserve this pristine lake amidst the many challenges facing it, Mr. Venugopal earnestly pleaded.
