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by M. B. Dassanayake

Pollution of water is caused by disposing of sewage water and industrial effluents into it. In the rural areas the rivers and lakes are commonly used for bathing, washing clothes and cattle. The same is subsequently used for drinking and cooking as well.

Kandy Lake - historically important

Improperly treated sewerage contaminating potable water causes bacterial epidemics. I wish to emphatically mention that there is a vast difference historically and otherwise between Kandy Lake and Colombo's Lake 'Beira'. Kandy is a dream city which has had its full share. Partly in the case of Kandy, it is the way it nestles at the foot of green hills, making room charmingly for a Lake as well, with glimpses of the hill-perched bungalows screened by thickly leafed trees.

The Kandy Lake was begun before Mayor Adam Davy attempted to capture Kandy.

According to R. L. Brohier, the King is supposed to have first built a dam across the paddy-fields, starting from the 'Pattiruppuwa' (Octogen) side, where today one can see step's leading into the lake by the 'Mahamaluwa' (Esplanade) and stretching across to the 'Poya-maluwa'.

The once beautiful expanse of water is today struggling against the throttling silt fast gathering around the Lake. Already towards Ampitiya the accumulated earth and sand stabilised itself into a few acres of luxuriant grazing land, adjoining the playing fields that was also once a part of the lake.

Storm water has brought down to the Lake during the past few years tons of eroded soil from the building sites and factories in the neighbourhood. The silt traps have proved to be utterly ineffective against the massive down-flow of silt. The Lake bund, too, has consequently become shoddy and ill-kept adding to the general appearance of neglect.

All the works of restoration now done under the Cultural Project will have little meaning if the Lake remains neglected.

'Beira' Lake

The Lake could have become one of the more pleasing amenities of the city, but for a long time, it was neglected and as the population increased it became a menace to the health of the inhabitants. Much of the sewage of the city found its way into it. Some effort was made to dredge the Lake but this by itself could not cure the unhealthy and obnoxious conditions arising from the presence in the midst of the city of a wide stretch of polluted and stagnant waters.

Beira Lake - it can be salvaged

Proposals were made from time to time to connect the Lake with the harbour by means of a canal and a lock or locks. Closely allied with them was a scheme for draining the Lake or cutting canals though it to the various stores and the proposed lock.

In 1904 A.D., the Governor appointed a Committee composed of the Director of Public Works (F.A. Cooper), the Principal Collector of Customs (W. K. Jackson), the Chairman of the Colombo Municipal Council (E. M. de Courcy Short) and a Member of the Mercantile Community (J. Wardrop), to report on the proposals to connect the Lake to the harbour.

The Committee reported on the 8th of November, 1905 A.D., that, owing to the depth of the lake, the construction of a canal from the harbour to the Lake would be by itself be of a little practical advantage. The construction of such a canal, therefore, recessitated the canalization of the Lake or extended dredging over the whole area.

The history

Some European firms said that their interest would be adversely affected, but the majority welcomed the scheme which was carried out and which added much needed land for development. It cannot be denied, however, that the best use of the Lake has not been made for ornamental or utilitarian purposes.

The Beira Lake is one of the principal features of the city of Colombo, and it has received the attention in turn of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British.

One of the earliest references to the Lake is to be found in 'The Conquest of Ceylon' by Father Fernao de Queyroz published in 1688 A.D. He says that when Vijaya Bahu laid seige to Colombo in 1521 A.D., the Portuguese Captain Lopo de Brito pursued the attackers, "killing and wounding them till they reached a brook, which was afterwards damned into a Lake for the better fortification of the City". Queyroz adds that, when large reinforcements arrived from Goa in 1555 A.D., they "built some houses giving rise to the city of Colombo which had within it the mound of Laurence and was surrounded by Capana (Sinh. 'Kalapuwa'), a lake nearly three leagues and a half in length, which in summer admits of access to Colombo in some places with water to the waist".

During the seige of 1578 A.D., Mayadunne, seeing that the Portuguese boats were plying in the Lake, "determined to drain it, but without avail, as it was valorously defended." His son Rajasinha beseiged Colombo several times and drained the Lake dry twice by canals, one of which is now represented by the San Sebastian Canal.

The lake is described as full of crocodiles, whence the name Kayman's Gate. The word 'Cayman' was used for a crocodiles both by the Portuguese and the Dutch. There were several Islands in it, most of which have since disappeared. Slave Island has a cinnamon plantation and another Island was large enough to have 600 coconut trees and a whole village.

In preparing the defences of Colombo against the Dutch attack in 1665 A.D., the Portuguese "made use of the Lake, by which they brought palm tree timber, and fascines, and a certain bark of a tree which they call 'vedipara', which made up for the lack of matches."

The Dutch in their turn, "launched on the Lake many light and capacious vessels of extraordinary workmanship in which were 250 soldiers, to capture the house of D. Jeronimo de Azevedo, where the wall of the rampart was three palms broad and little more than one fathom high".

The Lake was the scene of some of the bitterest encounters between the Dutch and the Portuguese.

The Portuguese ramparts which were battered into rubble were temporarily replaced by a stockage extending to the edge of the Lake.

Later the defences were withdrawn to a higher ground a couple of hundred yards back. The low-lying ground outside the flooded and a broad expanse of lake flowed in as far as Kayman's Gate.

There is still much to be done to make the Lake one of the most charming features of the city of Colombo.

Present condition

The offensive smell experienced by motorists and pedestrians as they pass the Beira Lake, is that of hydrogen sulphide and other gases containing aminos released from putrefying dead algal varieties lying unflushed at the lake bottom.

Scientists at the Central Environmental Authority believe that these algal varieties lying unflushed at the lake bottom.

Scientists at the Central Environmental Authority state that these algal varieties thrive and multiply profusely on nitrates and phosphates contained in human excreta and urine. Low-income city dwellers along the edge of the Beira Lake are defacating directly into this Lake and offering a rich nutrient medium for these algae to thrive, the scientists said.

They said that a multi-million rupee project was under way under the Urban

Development Authority (UDA) to develop the Beira Lake.

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