Jaipur, Nov. 22: The Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, once renowned for supporting 40,000 birds from 370 species, has only 30 species left this year with water scarcity threatening its survival.

“No migratory birds have touched down till now this year,” said bird expert Baachu Singh.

The UN’s world heritage committee had warned in 2005 that the park risked losing its heritage status soon if it continued to dry up.

The 29sqkm park, popularly known as Bharatpur sanctuary, has seen a fall in tourist traffic this year because of poor bird-sighting reports.

Earlier, more than 100,000 visitors arrived at the park every year. Local guides say most tourists used to stay for three days, scouting the woodland, marsh and grassland separately each day for exotic birds. Now only first-time tourists come.

The shallow water bodies spread over 11sqkm have dried up, and the authorities are making do by pumping groundwater to them. The volume is just about enough for the park’s 5,000-odd animals.

“As for the birds, there are hardly any left. Earlier, about 50 species of migratory birds, including the Siberian crane, would winter here. They haven’t been coming for the past so many years,” Singh said.

“Even the domestic, resident birds, which usually nest during September-October in the park, flew away this year with no flowing water available.”

The only bird you can see in abundance is the black-winged stilt. The others include the ruff, greenshank and green sandpiper.

Earlier, the coot, brahminy duck, mallard, gadwall, wigeon, shoveller, pintail duck, bar-headed goose and the greylag goose used to winter here.

The park, located at the confluence of the rivers Gambhiri and Banganga, used to be a haven for migratory waterfowls arriving in the subcontinent. It was the only wintering ground for the highly endangered Siberian crane, which flew 6,400km to the sanctuary every year until recently.

The park’s main source of water was rainwater from the Gambhiri and Banganga, but the flow fell sharply after the Panchna dam was built on the Gambhiri in 2003. Matters worsened after the dam’s height was raised to increase its water-holding capacity.

In 2004, the state government stopped water supply to the park, 176km from Jaipur, after protests by farmers. Bird-watchers and experts blame it on vote-bank politics.

Other factors contributed, too. They include the large number of water bodies and harvesting structures created in the catchment areas, population pressure, increased farming and grazing and low and erratic rainfall.

“Birds need live feed like fish plankton and algae that only flowing water can provide. It is practically a firefight here. Pumping groundwater to the water bodies cannot be sustained for long,” park director Sunayan Sharma said.

Water resources minister Sanwar Lal Jat said the government had sanctioned the Goverdhan floodwater drain scheme for the sanctuary. The project is to bring surplus water from the Yamuna that flows into the Goverdhan drain, 20km from the park, to the sanctuary through a 19km pipeline.

“The pipeline will supply 350 million cubic feet of water,” said S.N. Thanvi, principal secretary, irrigation and water resources.

Environmentalists say the pipeline scheme is impractical: birds do not need piped water but flowing natural water with live feed. Besides, it will take a long time to carry out the pipeline project.