Hussain Sagar Lake

Hussain Sagar is a necklace shaped lake in Hyderabad built by Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah, and named after Hussain Shah Wali. It is spread across an area of 5.7 square kilometers and is fed by River Musi. A large monolithic statue of the Gautama Buddha, erected in 1992, stands on Gibraltar Rock in the middle of the lake. It also separates Hyderabad from its twin city Secunderabad. The maximum depth of the lake is 57 feet.
Hussain Sagar Lake is one of the largest man made lake situated at the confluence of Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Begumpet. It is a sprawling artificial lake that holds water perennially. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it connects the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The lake was built in the year 1575 by Sultan Ibrahim Kutb Shah at a cost of about Rs. 2.5 lakhs. The lake was originally constructed to supply drinking water but it is not used as a drinking water source since 1930. The lake also protected the citizens staying in the low lying areas around the lake from floods.
The main threat to the lake is encroachment by both private and public agencies. In the past 30 years, the lake has shrunk about 40 % of its original size (550 ha to 349 ha). In addition to the encroachment the lake also faces the problem of pollution due to the continuous discharge of untreated domestic sewage and toxic industrial chemicals for several years. Although several Central Effluent Treatment Plant and Sewage Treatment plant have grown up to restrict the pollution yet a considerable amount of sewage flows into the lake.