Lake Kasumigaura
Lake Kasumigaura 霞ヶ浦 | |
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Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Kasumigaura, Ibaraki | |
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
Lake Kasumigaura (霞ヶ浦, Kasumigaura) is the
.In a narrower sense and officially, Lake Kasumigaura refers to a waterbody with an area of 167.63 km2.[1][2] In a wider sense, Lake Kasumigaura can also refer to a group of contiguous lakes, which includes Lake Kasumigaura proper, hereby referred to as Nishiura (西浦), and two smaller lakes, Kitaura (北浦; 35.16 km2[1][2]) and Sotonasakaura (外浪逆浦; 5.85 km2[1][2]), and also encompasses the rivers connecting them. In this case the total area is 220 km2.
About 45% of the land surrounding the lake is natural landscape and 43.5% is agricultural land.
History
Lake Kasumigaura originally was a
Use
Today, Lake Kasumigaura is used for fishing, irrigation, tourism, recreation, and for consumption by the surrounding public and local industry.
A variety of fish can be caught from the waters of Lake Kasumigaura, including
The water from Lake Kasumigaura has long been used for the irrigation of
Many tourists come to the lake in the summer to view the Hobikibune (帆引き船)
The lake is a recreation hotspot.
Lake Kasumigaura provides over 60 tons of water per second; most goes to agriculture (83%). The rest is provided to local industry (13%) and public (4%) in the
Challenges
Eutrophication is a serious problem for Lake Kasumigaura. Legislation was enacted in 1982 to help prevent it, including a ban on the use and sale of phosphate-containing synthetic detergents, and the control of nitrogen and phosphorus contents in the effluent from factories.
In order to help maintain the lake, dredging work is being carried out around the lake and at the estuaries of main inflowing rivers, such as Sakura River (桜川).
References
- ^ a b c 湖沼面積 (in Japanese). Geographical Survey Institute of Japan. 2008-10-01. Archived from the original on 2012-08-04. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
- ^ a b c 日本の主な湖沼 (in Japanese). Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. 2002. Archived from the original on 2013-09-12. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
- ^ Havens, K.E., P. Xie, T. Iwakuma, R.T. James, N. Takamura, T. Hanazato, and T. Yamamoto (2001). "Nutrient dynamics and the eutrophication of shallow lakes Kasumigaura (Japan), Donghu (PR China), and Okeechobee (USA)". Environmental Pollution. 111(2):263–272.