Investigation of Illegal Encroachment and Landfilling in Bolgoda Environment Protection Area

Abstract

The Bolgoda water body is the only natural lake in the Sri Lanaka situated in the westernprovince, spreading over six divisional secretaries divisions of Rathmalana, Kesbawa,Moratuwa, Panadura, Bandaragama and Kalutara. However, it is a basin estuary brackishwater body and also categorized as a semi-closed lagoon. This sort of wetland plays a vitalrole on preventing of floods by retaining of excess water in wet season and support a numberof endemic fauna and flora. Presently Bolgoda ecosystem is faced to many threats and toovercome those threats it was declared as Bolgoda is an Environmental Protection Area(EPA). However, there is no any management plan for the conservation. Therefore, this studyis focused to identify and estimate damage on Bolgoda Environmental Protection Area andalso to propose a conservation and management plan.

In order to identify existing threats, field survey was conducted covering 127 locations inBolgoda EPA and with help of records available in Central Environmental Authority andDivisional Secretariats. Further, survey plans obtained from the Department of Survey wereanalysed to identify encroached area to the water body. However, illegal land filling,encroachments, spreading of invasive species, mangrove destructions and waste dumpingsites were also identified. Before preparing a conservation and management plan to addressabove threats developed a zoning map was developed according to the identified damagelevels.

This study reveals that Bolgoda EPA is seriously threatened by encroachments, illegal landfilling and unauthorized constructions, discharge of industrial effluents, dumping of solidwaste including saw dust, mangrove destruction, and spreading of invasive species due towastewater discharge. The results also showed that approximate illegal land filling andencroachment in Bolgoda reservation were 0.0756 km2 and 0.0077 km2 respectively. Thedamage is severe in Moratuwa, Kesbawa, Rathmalane, and Panadura District secretariats(DSs) than Bandaragama and Kalutara DSs. However spreading of Allocacia spp wereobserved in all visited sites.