Kashmir Valley’s deepest lake, Manasbal, located about 30 kms from Srinagar city, is spring-fed like the Dal and other lakes of Kashmir Valley. It harbours rich quantity of water chestnuts, lotus stem and fish specie including Schizothorax, Common Carp and Mirror Carp. It too has suffered from pollution, siltation and encroachments with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warning in 1997 that the lake would be lost to posterity in absence of immediate conservation measures. The government response came in 2006 with the setting up of the Wullar-Manasbal Development Authority (WMDA). But by that time the lake had shrunk to less than 7 sq kms as more than 4 sq kms had turned into marsh. With community participation, WMDA turned the corner and partly restored the Lake’s health. The quarrying and lime extraction in the vicinity of Mansbal had completely chocked around 1200 springs, which are its main water source, making the lake to stink. The quarries were closed and lime extraction stopped, which proved an important conservation measure in restoration of lake’s springs. Encroachments in the lake’s peripheral areas were, despite stiff resistance, removed and a pedestrian walkway constructed to demarcate the lake’s periphery. With sustained dredging and de-weeding by the WMDA, the lake’s area increased by one-and-a-half sq kms. WMDA’s success in restoring Manasbal led the environmentalists to say that it should serve as a role model for conservation of Valley’s other water bodies.