[3] The lake lies within an industrial zone 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) to the north of Pavlodar town.

It lies in a tectonic depression of the Kulunda Plain, 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) to the east of the course of the Irtysh.

[4] The lake was used as a reservoir by a chlor-alkali plant built in 1973 at the time of the Kazakh SSR which operated until 1993.

A clay wall was built along the western shore to prevent the polluted Bylkyldak water to reach the oxbow lakes of the Irtysh to the west.

Fish caught in Bylkyldak, such as dace, tench and crucian carp are heavily contaminated with mercury, but they are eaten by locals.