Kerala’s largest freshwater lake shrinking

The Sasthamcotta Lake in Kollam district which was designated as a Ramsar Site in November 2002 and listed by the Government of India as a wetland of national importance has started shrinking at an alarming rate. Sasthamcotta Lake is also Kerala’s largest freshwater lake.

Although the water level of the lake has always fluctuated in response to the summer and monsoon, environmental activists and others living in the vicinity of the lake said the decline in the lake’s water

volume at present is simply alarming. Even as summer has only started advancing, the lake exposes its parched bed on all sides.

At a couple of locations, the lake has shrunk by about 250 meters to 300 meters. Indiscriminate exploitation of water from the lake and environment degradation activities carried out around the catchment area of the lake is being cited as the main cause for the reduced lake volume.