Loktak Inland Water ways project

Loktak Inland Water ways project

Part of: Prelims 

In News: Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH inspected the Inland Waterways of India (IWAI) Jetty at the iconic Loktak Lake.

Loktak Lake

• The only floating national park in the world
• The largest fresh water lake in North east located at Moirang in Manipur.
• One of the largest water bodies in Asia and its beauty, greenery, marine life, surrounded by blue mountains stand out.
• Loktak Lake is famous for the phumdis floating over it. Phumdis are a series of floating islands of entangled vegetation formed by the accumulation of organic debris and biomass with soil, exclusive to the Loktak Lake in Manipur. Its thickness varies from few centimeter to two meters. The humus of phumdi is black in colour and very spongy with large number of pores. It floats with 4/5 part under water.
• It has been designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1990.
• It is also listed under the Montreux Record in 1993, “a record of Ramsar sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring or are likely to occur”.

News Source: PIB