Governor Victor Hugo Vasquez of Oruro, Bolivia placed the province under a state of natural disaster after its second-largest lake, Lake Poopo, almost completely dried up.
The lake, which is located in the western part of the country, once covered 1,780 square miles of land. The largest Bolivian lake, Lake Titicaca, measures about 3,200 square miles.
Through the declaration, concerned departments will hasten the process of providing funds and other necessary support for the affected region. The situation also created significant impacts on the economy of the residents of the area's eight municipalities.
National authorities did not expect the loss of water in Lake Poopo, saying that they were not familiar with the gravity of the situation.
What Went Wrong?
The combination of mining pollution and environmental phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña has pushed the lake to start the process of desertification, which is a kind of land degradation that involves losing bodies of water and other forms of life due to increasingly arid conditions.
Milton Perez, an agronomist from Oruro Technical University, said the lake has turned "lifeless." He added that the ecosystem in the area is generally frail and the lake itself is shallow. On top of that, the surge of climatic phenomena happening one after the other may have pushed the natural disaster to occur.
What Used To Be
For six to seven years, Lake Poopo preserved its ecological balance well, but with the desertification, the future does not look favorable. "The lake won't have enough time to re-establish itself in a natural way as the ecosystem it used to be," said Perez.
What Are The Effects?
The people in the area, whose main source of living is fishing in Poopo's waters, are among the most affected. In fact, the government estimates that approximately 800 million bolivianos, or close to $114 million, in investments would be needed in order to save the lake.
Ornithologist Carlos Capriles noted that about 200 species of wildlife animals, such as mammals, birds, reptiles and fish were also affected by the lake's situation.
The reason for the wide scope of affected wildlife is that the place was once a sanctuary for thousands of birds that fly from north to south. The sources of water have dwindled and are now trimmed down to just three small wetlands.
Photo: Francisco Javier Garcia Orts | Flickr
