Vembanad Lake
Also called: Vembanad-Kol wetland · Topic: Drainage System of India: Rivers, Basins and Patterns · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Vembanad Lake is a long coastal lake in Kerala. It is India's longest lake and stretches from Alappuzha to Kochi. It is a lagoon, which is a body of water near the coast kept partly apart from the sea by a strip of land. Rivers from the Western Ghats flow into it. Together with the nearby Kol paddy lands, it forms the Vembanad–Kol wetland, which became a Ramsar site in 2002. A Ramsar site is a wetland listed as important under an international treaty on wetlands. The lake supports fishing, farming and backwater tourism.
Example
Every year the Nehru Trophy snake-boat race is held on the lake near Alappuzha, Kerala. Kochi port lies at its northern end.
Don't confuse with
- Chilika Lake (Odisha): Asia's largest brackish-water lagoon and a Ramsar site since 1981. Vembanad is famous for being India's longest lake, not its largest lagoon.
- Pulicat Lake (Andhra Pradesh–Tamil Nadu border): India's second-largest brackish lagoon. The island of Sriharikota separates it from the sea.