The Wullar Lake, the largest fresh water lake of Asia, is losing its charm and beauty due to pollution and encroachments. Significant ecological changes are threatening its basic function as a reservoir of floods. The lake is shrinking in size. People living along its shore have built bundhs, planted willows on them and foilled the space. Due to this the water retention capacity of this lake has decreased. Most of the catchment area has been rendered barren.