Pulicat Lake is the located 60 km north of Chennai city and is the second largest brackish – water lake or lagoon in India. The river is about 60 km with width varying from 0.2 km to 17.5 km. Salinity values of the lake vary from zero during the monsoon to about 52 ppm during post and pre–monsoon seasons. It straddles the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states on the Coromandal Coast in South India. The lake encompasses the Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary. The barrier island of Sriharikota separates the lake from the Bay of Bengal. Three major rivers, which feed the lagoon, are the Arani River at the southern tip, the Kalangi River from the northwest and the Swarnamukhi River at the northern end, in addition to some smaller streams. It was about 461 sq. km. in its average area of water spread, but now it has shrunk so much that it may be hardly 350 sq. km. today, and is still shrinking rapidly. Average depth of water has reduced from 1.5 m in the early twentieth to about 1 m.

The lagoon has rich flora and fauna diversity, which supports active commercial fisheries and a large and varied bird population. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) declared the Pulicat lagoon system a Ramsar site of international importance and the World Wide Fund for Nature declared it a protected area.

Source: ForumIAS