The Kerkini lake constitutes part of the Strymon river, which flows through the lake to the NE and comes out of it to the SE, turning the artificial lake into a dam for the irrigatiion of the Serres plain.
In the flat and semi-mountainous area, important hydro-biospheres
are developing which are of great international significance and acceptance. The
most essential hydro-biosphere is the one in Kerkini lake. It is a miracle of
nature which came about by man's technical intervention on the natural characteristics
of Strymon river. The water extent, which varies from time to time from 54.250
sq. km to 72.100 sq. km ., works out to be useful in two ways: as a technical
work of great agricultural utility and as a hydrobioshpere for thousands of water
fowls. This wonderful biosphere is recouped by the International Convention of
Ramsar and presents numerous admirable elements. Thousands of birds, both rare
and protege, riverside forests, water-lilies in a large area, fish variety and
fantastic panoramic view from the mountains of Beles and Krousia give it a characteristic
tone.
The main water provider of the lake is Strymon river. Additionally,
there is Kerkinitis river from Krousia that flows into the lake. The lake was
created where Kerkini lake was by making embankments on the Eastern and western
sides and a dam was constructed near the village of Lithotopos, which started
functioning in 1932. After the construction of the dam, the form of the initial
hydrosphere changed completely. The human intervention usually retracts or takes
negative action against the natural processes. Kerkini lake is a rare example,
where the gentle human handling had the exact opposite result. As time went by,
the lake's capacity was reduced because of the substances that were washed up
by Strymon river. So the rising of the embankments and the construction of a new
dam was necessary, which was started in 1982.
Cercinitis (Kerkinitis limne, Anab. i. 11. § 3: Takhyno), the large
lake lying at the N. foot of the hill of Amphipolis, which Thucydides (v. 7) accurately
describes by the words to limnodes tou Strumonos, as it is, in fact, nothing more
than an enlargement of the river Strymon, varying in size according to the season
of the year, but never reduced to that of the river only, according to its dimensions
above and below the lake. Besides the Strymon, the Augitas contributes to the
inundation as well as some other smaller streams from the mountains on either
side. The lake Prasias (Prasias), with its amphibious inhabitants who are described
by Herodotus (v. 16) as living on the piles and planks procured from Mount Orbelus,
with which they constructed their dwellings on the lake, was the same as the Strymonic
lake, or Cercinitis. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 211.)
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