Digital processing of the IRS-1D LISS-III image revealed a highly degraded state of the Kolleru lake. Among the several techniques tried, image enhancement through automatic log residuals method clearly indicated that about 42% of the 245 km2 lake area was encroached for aquaculture and 8.5% more area was occupied for agriculture, while the rest of the lake is either being dried out by reclamation or is infested with weed. The
study provides unambiguous visual information on the alarming levels of human-induced environmental degradation of Kolleru lake, which is one of the important coastal wetland ecosystems in the country.