Web of Life

Fish in the Attidiya Lake are dying in their hundreds and nobody knows why. But the residents in the vicinity aren’t surprised.

The Attidiya Lake and Bellanwila-Attidiya wetland, despite its well known status as a Wildlife Reserve, has always being the victim of encroachment, irregular land filling, garbage dumping and pollution.

Repeated attempts have been made by the Wildlife Department to improve the status of the wetland but the encroachment, land filling and garbage dumping have continued up-to-date.

According to the residents of Lake Crescent, the situation has gone from bad to worse with a large number of dead fish -nearly 500 found floating in one area of the Attidiya lake near Lotus Grove.

“Some of the fish were up to one foot in length and were large and looked healthy,” says Professor Kumar David, a resident of the Lotus Grove, Hill Street, explaining the situation.

“It was around 7 in the morning and I was shocked to see a large number of dead fish in the lake at the extreme north western cove of the water,” he said adding that all the dead fish were gathered around the area which had been cleared a few days ago by the management of a water park in one of the islands in the lake.

According to Professor David, the dead fish were found only near the grounds cleared of vegetation and many are wondering whether the management had mixed a poisonous chemical like a herbicide, which also killed the fish.

“If that was the case it could be risky for many people who consume the fish from the lake,” says Romany Rasquinho of the Lake Crescent Environmental Group.

According to Rasquinho, the lake, even before the death of the fish, was in “bad shape” as the Attidiya Wet Park Project owners had blocked the waterways going in and out of the lake.
“The lake water is stagnating as there is no circulation of water and the lake has started to smell like never before,” she said.

Although it looks like just a matter of dead fish, the conflict between the neighbours and the Attidiya Wet Park Project management over the management of the lake environment, has been a long one.

The conflict started when the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Commission (SLLRDC) leased the islet in the middle of the Attidiya Lake for 50 years.

Although the Cabinet Paper which authorized the transaction, talks of an islet of two acres, the wet park owners today have demarcated the whole lake to their use, prohibiting the neighbors of the use of the lake.

Moreover, they have also stopped the in and out flow of water to and out of the lake ending the natural circulation of water and killing the natural habitat and the eco cycle of the lake.

“Despite the fact that the Wet Park Project is supposed to be an environmental development project and the management of the park is being paid Rs. 500,000 by the SLLRDC to manage the lake, all they have done is to destroy the lake,” Ms. Rasquinho said.

According to Ms. Rasquinho despite the duty of maintaining the lake, the Wet Park management has failed to grasp the real responsibility behind maintaining an eco system.

“All they have done is to take some short term attempts to improve the scenic beauty like filling the lake to create a jogging path around the islet, creating an artificial lawn, cutting trees and disturbing the natural flow of the lake,” she said adding that most of these steps have ended in environmental disaster.

The Lake Crescent Environmental Group is also blaming the wet park developer of trying to replace a natural habitat with a manicured environment and destroying fringing areas of weeds, reeds and marsh earlier inhabited by various forms of birdlife.

Meanwhile, Central Environment Authority (CEA) reacting to the complaints by the neighbours have taken immediate steps to suspend the functions of the Wet Park till a mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment is done.

CEA Chairman Thilak

Ranaviraja, said that the Wet Park management does not have the right to demarcate the lake for their sole use since the agreement signed between the developer, the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and the SLLRDC has leased out only the islet.

He further pointed that the Attidiya Lake had been dredged by the SLLRDC as a flood retention area, at a cost of Rs. 5,500 million of public funds for the use of the general public.

“The development and maintenance of the lake was handed over to the developer under a payment made by the SLLRDC for his service and he cannot claim the ownership over the lake but can only use the lake for recreation just like all the neighbors,” Ranaviraja further said.

According to CEA officials, the present environmental laws do not provide for the privatization of a public water body and pointed out that the developer is receiving a payment in compensation for the maintenance of the lake.

Moreover, the CEA officials and

environmentalists are wondering as to how SLLRDC and Urban Development Authority leased an islet with environment importance without an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) or an Initial Environment Assessment (IEA). The project monitoring committee, chaired by the UDA with members from the CEA, SLLRDC, Board of Investment (BOI), and the Developer comprise no representation from the residents and independent environmentalists.

The CEA and the SLLRDC have a

history of conflict over the lease and sale of land with high environmental importance and CEA officials are pointing out that the long pledged legislature to bring all the state owned land under one agency to curb the conflict between government agencies is yet to be introduced.

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