Kolleru Lake
Topic: Drainage System of India: Rivers, Basins and Patterns · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Kolleru Lake is a large, shallow freshwater lake in Andhra Pradesh. It lies in the low land between the Godavari and Krishna deltas. In the monsoon it fills with floodwater from streams in the area, and it acts as a natural flood buffer. It is an important wetland (land covered with shallow water for much of the year) for resident and migratory birds. It became a Ramsar site (a wetland of international importance) in 2002.
Example
Kolleru lies between Eluru and Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh. Large parts of it were turned into aquaculture ponds for farming fish and prawns. This shrank the open water and damaged its bird habitat and water quality.
Don't confuse with
- Pulicat Lake: this is a brackish (partly salty) coastal lagoon on the Andhra Pradesh–Tamil Nadu border, joined to the sea. Kolleru is a freshwater lake inland, between two deltas.
- Chilika Lake: this is Asia's largest brackish-water lagoon, at the Mahanadi delta in Odisha. It is not a freshwater lake.