Anchar Lake
Anchar Lake
Location	Soura, J&K, India
Coordinates	34°09′N 74°47′E / 34.150°N 74.783°E / 34.150; 74.783
Type	lake

Anchar Lake (Urdu pronunciation: [ɑ̃ːt͡ʃɑːr]; Kashmiri pronunciation: [ãːt͡ʃaːr]); lit. 'Pickle') is a lake located in Soura in the Srinagar district of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

Situated close to Ganderbal, the lake is connected with the famous Dal Lake via a channel, "Amir Khan Nallah," which passes through Gilsar and Khushal Sar. The lake is in a highly deteriorated condition. In case of flooding, the excessive water of the Dal is diverted here.^[1]

The Shallabugh Wetland is fed by water from the Sind River and Anchar Lake.^[2]

Once a popular tourist destination, as tourists on shikaras and houseboats used to travel here from Dal Lake, over the years it has deteriorated owing to pollution, large-scale encroachment, and illegal constructions in its surroundings.^[3] In the 1990s, when the Nallah Mar was covered to build the Mearplan highway around the western side of Dal, six-foot pipes were laid under the new road to allow Dal to continue to drain into the Anchar lake system, however, the pipes soon clogged due to waste and debris.^[4]

Like the Dal Lake and Wular Lake, it is home to the Hanji community, which lives near the lake in an area called Anchar among the locals.

• Anchar Lake