SAMBHAR HISTORY------Geography

LAKE

The lake is actually an extensive saline wetland, with water depths fluctuating from as few as 60 centimetres (24 in) during the dry season to about 3 meters (10 ft) after the monsoon season. It occupies an area of 190 to 230 square kilometers, based on the season. It is an elliptically shaped lake 35.5 km long with a breadth varying between 3 km and 11 km. It is located in Nagaur and Jaipur districts and it also borders the Ajmer district. The circumference of the lake is 96 km, surrounded on all sides by the Aravali hiils. The Sambhar lake basin is divided by a 5.1 km long dam made of sand stone. After salt water reaches a certain concentration, it will be released from the west side to the eastern side by lifting dam gates. To the east of the dam are salt evaporation ponds where salt has been farmed for a thousand years. This eastern area is 80 km. and comprises salt reservoirs, canals and salt pans separated by narrow widges. To the east of the dam is a railroad, built by the British (before Indias independence) to provide access from Sambhar Lake City to the salt works. The nearest airport is Sanganer and the nearest railway station is Sambhar. The water is fed to the lake from streams from the rivers Mendha, Runpangarh, Khandel and Karian. The Mendha and Rupangarh are main streams. The Mendha flows from south to north and the Rupangarh flows from north to south. Temperatures reach 40 Celsius in summer and stay at around 11 Celsius in winter.

Economic importance
It is India's largest saline lake and made Rajasthan the third largest salt producing state in India. It produces 196,000 tonnes of clean salt every year, which equals 8.7% of India's salt

production. Salt is produced by evaporation process ofbrine and is mostly managed by Shambar Salts Ltd.(SSL), a joint venture of the Hindustan Salts Ltd. and the state government. SSL owns 3% of the eastern lake. There are 38 clusters of villages surrounding the lake. Major settlements include Sambhar, Gudha, Jabdinagar, Nawa, Jhak, Korsina, Jhapok, Kanseda, Kuni, Tyoda, Govindi, Nandha, Sinodiya, Arwik ki dhani, Khanadja, Khakharki, Kerwa ki dhani, Rajas, Jalwali ki dhani, Devaji ki dhani, Aau and Ulana

Ecological importance
Sambhar has been designated as a Ramsar site (recognized wetland of international importance) because the wetland is a key wintering area for tens of thousands of flamingos and other birds that migrate from northern Asia. The specializedalgae and bacteria growing in the lake provide striking water colours and support the lake ecology that, in turn, sustains the migrating waterfowl
Location Rajasthan, India 2658N 7505ECoordinates: 2658N 7505E Lake type salt lake

Coordinates

Catchment area 5700 km Basincountries India Max. length Max. width Surface area 35.5 km 3 to 11 km 190 to 230 km

Average depth 0.6 m to 3 m Max. depth Surface elevation 3m 360 m

The salt of life

The colourfully attired local labourers working in the salt pans, stand in absolute contrast to the stark white of the salt mounds all around. Sambhar means salt, and it has been extracted from this lake for over a thousand years. Historically, the Rajputs, Marathas, Scindias and the Moguls have all partaken the commercial and utilitarian benefits of salt produced here. In 1870, the rulers of Jaipur and Jodhpur, who then jointly owned the lake,

leased the salt pans to the British. It was then that technology and commerce bolstered the basically traditional methods of salt production and disbursement. After independence, the lake was appropriated by the government and is now managed by Sambhar Salts Limited, a joint venture of Hindustan Salts and the government of Rajasthan. Physically, a five km long stone dam bisects this expansive and roughly ovoid lake. The western half acts as a reservoir supplying water to the eastern side saltpans through a system of sluice gates, canals and pumps. In fact, the two main pumps situated at the dam wall were installed by the British nearly a century ago and are still going strong. Truly remarkable, considering the fact that the saline water they pump is highly corrosive. Salt is produced mainly on the eastern side, with modern technology just supporting the traditional methods. Water from the reservoir is transferred from one saltpan (colloquially called a kyar) to the next, mainly by gravity, till it reaches a degree of salinity considered optimal for salt extraction. This is acquired from the salts dissolved in the lake bed soil. This salt saturated water (brine), about one foot deep, is left undisturbed in a saltpan. Here, wind and the fierce sunshine in the area crystallise salt out of the brownish algae-rich brine. A wafer-thin crystal layer forms on top, which is broken by stirring the water with long wooden poles, and settles at the bottom. Over a period of weeks, more and more of these crystalline layers settle on top of one another and fuse together to form larger crystals. During the peak of summer, when temperatures soar into the high forties, about an inch of salt gets deposited in two weeks. This deposited salt is scooped out from under the brine and collected in small mounds to dry out, before being loaded into wagons and sent to the factory for further processing.