Kolleru Lake

Kolleru Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in India located in state of Andhra Pradesh and forms the largest shallow freshwater lake in Asia (with 245 km² of lake area and 302 km² of total Ramsar designated wetland), 15 kilometers away from the Eluru and 65 km from Rajamahendravaram, it is located between Krishna and Godavari deltas. Kolleru Lake is located in Eluru district. The lake is fed directly by water from the seasonal Budameru and Tammileru streams, and is connected to the Krishna and Godavari irrigation systems by over 67 major and minor irrigation canals. This lake is a major tourist attraction. Many birds migrate here in winter, such as Siberian crane, ibis, and painted storks. The lake was an important habitat for an estimated 20 million resident and migratory birds, including the grey or spot-billed pelican (''Pelecanus philippensis''). The lake was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in November 1999 under India's Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, and designated a wetland of international importance in November 2002 under the international Ramsar Convention. The wildlife sanctuary covers an area of 308 km².
Kolleru Lake under Ramsar Convention (allowing local communities (Here: Vaddi Community) to continue their occupation of culture fish and caught fish) covers and Kolleru Lake under Wildlife Sanctuary covers .

Current state of the lake

Thousands of fish tanks were dug up, effectively converting the lake into a mere drain. This has great impact in terms of pollution, leading to difficulty in getting drinking water for the local people. This is in addition to the loss of ecological diversity and intrusion of sea water into the land masses and its fallout in terms of adverse influence on the rainfall pattern in this region. This imbalance has an adverse effect on the thousands of acres of crops in the upper reaches of the sanctuary, in view of the stoppage of water flow into the sea because of obstruction by the bunds of the fish tanks that have appeared illegally.

Satellite images taken on 9 February 2001 by the Indian remote sensing satellite found that approximately 42% of the 245 km² lake was occupied by aquaculture, while agriculture had encroached upon another 8.5%. The area under aquaculture consisted of 1,050 fish ponds within the lake and 38 dried-up fish ponds, which together covered an area of 103 km². The agricultural encroachments were mostly rice paddies. Surprisingly, no clear water could be found in the satellite image. The rest of the lake is diminished by water diversion or is infested with weeds like elephant grass and the water hyacinth

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