Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Srinagar’s long-running waste management crisis has once again come into sharp focus, with fresh reports highlighting that around 11.5 lakh metric tonnes of untreated legacy waste has accumulated at the Achan dumping site, and toxic leachate from the mountain of garbage reportedly threatening groundwater and nearby water bodies.
A recent ground assessment of the site, where waste has been dumped continuously since 1986, found that leachate seeping from the decades-old garbage pile has contaminated local groundwater and poses a direct threat to nearby lakes, including Anchar, Gilsar and Khushalsar. The concerns are not new: a joint committee constituted under proceedings before the National Green Tribunal inspected the Achan landfill in July 2024 and flagged concerns over Srinagar’s waste generation patterns, the landfill’s location and its proximity to these ecologically important water bodies.
Officials have estimated that the 11.5 lakh metric tonnes of accumulated waste represents nearly four decades of continuous dumping at the site, a scale compounded further by the city’s ongoing generation of fresh municipal waste, reported to run into hundreds of tonnes daily and placing additional strain on an already overburdened waste management system. Environmental experts note that the danger extends beyond the visible garbage mountain itself, as leachate formed when rainwater filters through decomposing waste can carry pollutants into surrounding soil and groundwater if left uncollected and untreated.
A recent scientific study examining microplastic pollution in Khushal Sar and Anchar lakes identified Achan as the principal waste disposal site for Srinagar, underlining its close proximity to these two interconnected water bodies. The issue has also drawn scrutiny from the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly’s Committee on Environment, which visited the Achan site and adjoining wetlands in July to review legacy waste remediation efforts, leachate treatment measures and environmental safeguards, while also seeking a scientific assessment of the health impact on communities living around the landfill.
In response, authorities have initiated biomining and bioremediation work aimed at clearing the accumulated legacy waste over the next two years, alongside plans for a modern integrated solid waste management facility at Achan under a project sanctioned at approximately ₹361 crore for treatment and remediation work. The Srinagar Municipal Corporation has indicated that a separate Integrated Solid Waste Management Programme is being developed to handle fresh waste generation, with a dedicated construction and demolition waste facility expected to be taken up independently.
For residents living around Achan, however, the immediate concern remains the environmental and health impact of a waste mountain that has continued to grow for nearly four decades, with the ongoing accumulation raising broader questions about the effectiveness of waste segregation, processing and long-term planning in the city. An environmentalist quoted by the news agency Kashmir News Trust noted that the real challenge now lies in ensuring the promised remediation does not remain confined to paper, but translates into the actual removal of legacy waste, scientific treatment of fresh waste, and effective protection of Srinagar’s vulnerable wetland ecosystem.
