Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) today started the dredging of the Settling Basin at Teilbal using the Pamposh Crawl Cat Suction Dredger.The dredging work was started to remove a huge quantity of silt that had accumulated in the Settling Basin which otherwise has the carrying capacity of arresting 80000 tonnes per annum of silt coming from catchment.Over the last two decades about 1.25mts thick layer of silt has got deposited in the Settling Basin and it is of paramount importance to desilt the Settling Basin having an area of about 0.12Sqkms (122500 sqmts) to clean it of unwanted material as it acts as a filter before the water goes into the Dal Lake.The world-famous Dal Lake has about 375 Sqkms of catchment area with forests and mountains and apart from natural springs oozing water from the bed of the lake, the Teilbal Nallah feeds about 70% of water which is one of the main fresh water feeding canal while passing through Settling Basin and finally culminates into the lake.The incoming water from the hilly terrains has a good quantum of soil content which settles on the bed of the Settling Basin in the form of sedimentation and sludge, in case it is left unattended the silt passes directly to the Lake thereby decreasing its depth.In order to address this grave situation, the Suction Dredger available with LAWDA having capacity of removing about 120Cum/hr of silt has been shifted recently from Dal Lake.