Lake Managua (also known as
Lake Xolotlán) (located at ) is a
lakeA lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all. Another definition is, a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size that is surrounded by land...
in
NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
. The Spanish name is Lago de Managua or Lago Xolotlán. At 1,042 km², it is approximately 65 kilometres (40 miles) long and 25 kilometres (15 miles) wide. Similarly to the name of Lake Nicaragua, its name was coined by the Spanish conquerors from "
Manguethe word Mangue can refer to several things:*The Mangue Bit, a Brazilian music style.*The Mangue language, an extinct Oto-Manguean language of Nicaragua.*The Mangue people, who spoke the language....
" (their name for the Mánkeme tribes) and
agua ("water").
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Lake Managua (also known as
Lake Xolotlán) (located at ) is a
lakeA lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all. Another definition is, a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size that is surrounded by land...
in
NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
. The Spanish name is Lago de Managua or Lago Xolotlán. At 1,042 km², it is approximately 65 kilometres (40 miles) long and 25 kilometres (15 miles) wide. Similarly to the name of Lake Nicaragua, its name was coined by the Spanish conquerors from "
Manguethe word Mangue can refer to several things:*The Mangue Bit, a Brazilian music style.*The Mangue language, an extinct Oto-Manguean language of Nicaragua.*The Mangue people, who spoke the language....
" (their name for the Mánkeme tribes) and
agua ("water"). The city of
ManaguaManagua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is also the largest city in Nicaragua. It is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Managua. The city was declared the national capital in 1852. Previously, the capital had alternated...
, the capital of
NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
, lies on its southwestern shore.
The lake has been severely polluted, in part by Kodak dumping
mercuryMercury , also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum , is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80...
into the lake in the 1950s, but mostly by decades of
sewageSewage is water-carried wastes, in either solution or suspension, that flow away from a community. Also known as wastewater flows, sewage is the used water supply of the community. It is more than 99.9% pure water and is characterized by its volume or rate of flow, its physical condition, its...
being dumped into the lake. Despite the pollution, some of the people of Managua still live along the lake's shores and eat the fish.
It rose 3 metres (10 ft) in five days during
Hurricane MitchHurricane Mitch was the most powerful hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph . The storm was the thirteenth tropical storm, ninth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the season...
in 1998, destroying the homes of many who lived on its edge.
It is also joined by the Tipitapa River to another lake,
Lake NicaraguaLake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada is a vast freshwater lake in Nicaragua of tectonic origin. With an area of , it is the largest lake in Central America, the 21st largest lake in the world and only slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca...
; however, owing to the extreme pollution, the
Bull sharkThe bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, also known as the whaler shark, Zambezi shark or unofficially known as Zambi in Africa and Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a shark common worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers. The bull shark is well known for its unpredictable, often...
s of Lake Nicaragua cannot migrate to Lake Managua . In 2007 the "malecón" area was dredged and the sediment hauled off on barges. A strong odor which permeated the area from the sediment disappeared. A stone rip-rap and concrete wharf was constructed and a sight seeing boat called "La Novia de Xolotlán" makes hour-long lake tours when there are sufficient tourists.
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