Harike Wetland

Harike Wetland, with the Harike Lake in the deeper part of it, east of the Harike village also known as "Hari-ke-Pattan" (Port of Harike), is a Ramsar site and the largest wetland in northern India on the border of Tarn Taran Sahib district and Ferozepur district of the Punjab state in India created by the manmade Harike Barrage headworks immediate downstream of the confluence of Beas and Sutlej rivers. Harike village is accessible by the NH-54 (Taran Taran 35 km north), NH-703A (Firozepur 45 km southwest and Kapurthala 60 km northeast), and NH-703B (Bhikhiwind 30 km northwest and Moga 50 km southeast).

Harike Barrage has created the manmade Harike Wetland. The Monsoon climate dominates the catchment draining into the wetland. The Harike headworks, which form the Harike lake and the enlarged wetland, was constructed for irrigation and drinking water supplies, through the Ferozepur, Indira Gandhi Canal and Makku feeder canals with total carrying capacity of 29,000 cubic feet per second (820 m³/s), to supply to the command areas located in the states of Punjab and Rajasthan. The lake is triangular, with its apex in the west, bounded by a bund called the Dhussi Bund forming one side, a canal in the second and a major road on the third. The periphery of the lake is surrounded by agricultural land and the wetland is reported to be rich in ground water resources.

The rich biodiversity of the wetland which plays a vital role in maintaining the precious hydrological balance in the catchment with its vast concentration of migratory fauna of waterfowls including a number of globally threatened species (stated to be next only to the Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur) has been responsible for the recognition accorded to this wetland in 1990, by the Ramsar Convention, as one of the Ramasar sites in India, for conservation, development and preservation of the ecosystem.