Kolleru Lake

[[Image:Bandar.jpg|thumb|265px|left justify|The endangered {{Kolleru Lake}} at dusk.]]Kolleru Lake is a large freshwater lake in India's Andhra Pradesh state. It is located between the deltas of the Krishna and Godavari rivers, in Krishna and West Godavari districts. The lake serves as a natural flood-balancing reservoir for the two rivers. The lake is fed directly by the seasonal Budameru and Tammileru rivers, and is connected to the Krishna and Godavari systems by 30 inflowing drains and channels. The lake also serves as an important habitat for up to 50,000 resident and migratory birds, including the Grey or Spot-Billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis). The lake was declared a wildlife sanctuary in November 1999 under India's Wildlife Protection Act, and designated a wetland of international importance in November 2002 under the international Ramsar Convention.

Satellite images taken on February 9 2001 by the Indian remote sensing satellite IRS-1D and analysed by Dr. K Nageswara Rao from Andhra University found that approximately 42 per cent of the 245 km² lake was occupied by aquaculture, while agriculture had encroached on another 8.5 percent. The area under aquaculture consisted of 1050 fishponds within the lake and 38 dried-up fish ponds, which together covered an area of 103 km². The agricultural encroachments were mostly rice paddies. No clear water could be found in the satellite image. The rest of the lake was being diminished by water diversions or was infested with weeds like elephant grass and water hyacinth.

A recent campaign by environmentalists has succeded in that all fisheries and buildings meant to harvest fish from the lake have been destroyed.