Alarming trigger of hot springs at Chumathang in Ladakh

Leh, Dec 12: Following unprecedented and alarming trigger of hot springs at Chumathang-Nyoma in Ladakh an important official meeting was held here today to take stock of the situation.

According to a press release, the meeting was convened by Amit Sharma, Secretary Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation (DMRR) of Ladakh. “The meeting was convened regarding unprecedented triggering and causing hot spring waters towards sudden surge upto alarming heights in Chumathang area of Nyoma Sub-Division in Leh district. Senior teams of National Disaster Management Agency, Geological Survey of India, Central Ground Water Board, National Institute of Hydrology, Western Himalayan Regional Centre and Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology participated,” it added.

According to press release, a threadbare brainstorming was held on the issue of sudden surge in the water levels of Chumathang, Nyoma hot springs. Amit Sharma shared the factual position and talked about sudden rise in hot spring levels upto 2-3 metres in about last 10 days of November this year which otherwise remains normally upto average one foot level only, throughout the year.

Afterwards, all the participating teams of different departments/bodies shared their respective viewpoints about this unusual geological phenomenon happening at Chumathang, Nyoma , while sharing similar experiences in some other parts of the country . NDMA team was particularly interested to know if some movement in tectonic plates is responsible for it, as this area already falls in a highly seismic zone category which can act as a prelude to future earthquakes occurrence here.

Secretary DMRRR Ladakh requested if an expert team can be sent to this site to conduct an in-depth study so that such phenomenon can be checked to an extent in future as lot of hotels/guest houses have come-up in this vicinity which poses a potential threat to both human safety and infrastructure. This had which necessitated calling for this highest level meeting to conduct root cause analysis for the same.

Before the culmination of the meeting, it was finally decided by NDMA that GSI, Wadia Institute and other teams shall share a white-paper on same with all stakeholders, especially UT Ladakh Administration and NDMA. This shall be followed by an Advisory of Do’s and Don’ts for the locals and also putting into place, a regular hot springs water-level monitoring mechanism at Chumathang, Nyoma by the experts which shall act as a long-term solution for the safety of locals, households, tourism points, defence rest houses here which are located very near to Indus River, flowing near these natural hot springs.