Punjab is a state of India which is located in the North-West part and known as the terrain of five rivers. The name of the state Punjab is made up of two words namely ‘Punj’ means five and ‘aab’ means water thus denoting five waters. This fertile land of five rivers is irrigated by these rivers which have their source from different lakes in the great Himalayas. These rivers have nonstop supply of water throughout the year due to the ice melted water of Himalayan glaciers.

The rivers are Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum accordingly to their respective situations from the Indian capital. Sutlej and Beas merge with each other and then called Sutlej in Indian Punjab at Harike before entering in Pakistan’s territory to merge finally into the River Indus. These rivers in fact are the backbone of the Punjab’s economy particularly for the bread bowl of Punjab region.

The Punjab area in between the rivers of Sutlej and Beas is widely famous as Doaba. Hoshiarpur, Nawan Shahr and Jalandhar are the chief cities of Doaba region. The region on either side of Ravi River and between Chenab and Beas rivers is generally known as Majha area. One of the key cities of this area is the holy Amritsar city and Majha region is the heart of Punjab. This area of Punjab is fertile enough which was developed by changing the forests into agricultural land and named as Bari doab. The region between north of Chenab river and Jhelum is commonly recognized as Pothohar. Rachana doab is the familiar name of the region between Chenab and Ravi rivers. The region located on the eastern side of Beas River is termed as Malwa area which includes the cities such as Ambala, Patiala, Sangrur, Karnal, Abohar, Shahabad, Malerkotla and Ludhiana.

Some of the Major Lakes in Punjab are

Sukhna Lake

A huge artificial Lake Sukhna occupies an area of about 3kms. Sukhna Lake receives water from rains and seasonal small river streams flowing from the lower range of Himalayas, the Shivalik. This 3km open Sukhna Lake forms a reservoir of seasonal streams coming out directly from the Shivalik range. These seasonal water streams brought along with them much silt which block nearly whole of the Lake hindering its overall beauty. A broad area of 25.5kms was acquired later on for dense vegetation to ensure the inflow of silt. To make the lake silt free, a bridge was constructed to generate a distraction and to avoid the lake in 1974.

Harike Lake

This triangular shape lake has its pointed end in west, a duct on one side, Dussi Bund shaping the second side and the third side is main road. Amritsar city is connected with Bhatinda, Ferozpur and Faridkot by a national main road via Harike barrage.

The world wide endangered species and more than 20,000 thousands ducks have been documented at Harike lake throughout the highest migratory season. More than 200 other bird species including local and wandering also visit during the winter season.

Kanjli Lake

This Kanji Lake came into existence when a little barrage was being built in 1870 accordingly making this lake a source of fresh water. The water depth in this lake ranges from 11 to 25 feet which depends mainly upon the water inflow and rainy season.

Nearly 18 kinds of fishes have been recorded here. The familiar varieties of fish are Channa marulius, Devji, Labeo calbasu, Catla-Catla, L.rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala, C.striatus.