Bolgoda Lake

Bolgoda Lake
Bolgoda Lake (Sinhala: බොල්ගොඩ වැව, Tamil: போல்கோடா ஏரி), also known as Bolgoda Estuary, is a large lagoonal estuary situated in lowlands in the wet zone of southwestern Sri Lanka. It is identified as one of the largest quaternary sedimentary basins in the southwest coast of Sri Lanka (Ratnayake et al., 2018).

Located between the southern border of the Kalu Ganga basin and the northern border of the Kelani Ganga basin, the Bolgoda watershed consists of two shallow brackish water bodies called North Bolgoda Lake and South Bolgoda Lake (Ratnayake et al., 2018; Senarathne & Pathiratne, 2007). A narrow stream called Bolgoda Ganga connects these two lakes (Senarathne & Pathiratne, 2007). The lake opens to the Indian Ocean via two separate points located in the western edges of Bolgoda North Lake (via Panadura Ganga) and South Lake (Pathiratne et al., 2009). The extreme north end of the North Bolgoda Lake is known as Weras Ganga (Ratnayake et al., 2018; Senarathne & Pathiratne, 2007). The coast adjacent to the lake contains extensive wetlands, including marshes, mangrove swamps and peat bogs (Ratnayake et al., 2017).

The average annual rainfall of the lake is about 2,500 mm and is mainly fed by the southwest monsoon and freshwater inflows (Ratnayake et al., 2018). The mean annual temperature is around 27°C (Ratnayake et al., 2017). The lake is used by locals for various purposes including irrigation and commercial fishing (Senarathne & Pathiratne, 2007). Presently, the Bolgoda lake and its surrounding area [12.45 km2 (1245 ha)] have been gazetted as an environmental protected area.

Attribution
1) Bolgoda Lake and Bolgoda Lake (2) by Briandemel are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

References
1) Pathiratne, A., Chandrasekera, L.W.H.U. and Pathiratne, K.A.S., 2009. Use of biomarkers in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) to assess the impacts of pollution in Bolgoda Lake, an urban water body in Sri Lanka. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 156(1), pp.361-375.
2) Ratnayake, A.S., Ratnayake, N.P., Sampei, Y., Vijitha, A.V.P. and Jayamali, S.D., 2018. Seasonal and tidal influence for water quality changes in coastal Bolgoda Lake system, Sri Lanka. Journal of Coastal Conservation, 22(6), pp.1191-1199.
3) Ratnayake, A.S., Sampei, Y., Ratnayake, N.P. and Roser, B.P., 2017. Middle to late Holocene environmental changes in the depositional system of the tropical brackish Bolgoda Lake, coastal southwest Sri Lanka. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 465, pp.4-5.
4) Senarathne, P. and Pathiratne, K.A.S., 2007. Accumulation of heavy metals in a food fish, Mystus gulio inhabiting Bolgoda Lake, Sri Lanka. pp.61-75.
5) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. No: 1634/23. 30 December 2009.

Location Map
This page was last updated on 1 May 2022
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