The ecological catastrophe that turned a vast Bolivian lake into a salt desert

[Judi Lynn]

What was once the country’s second largest lake is now a salt flat and the vanishing waters are taking an indigenous community’s way of life with them

Laurence Blair in Oruro
Thu 4 Jan ‘18 02.00 EST

The remainder of an ancient sea at the heart of South America is fast becoming a memory: a white expanse of salt stretches for miles, with just a smear of red, brackish water at its southern edge.

Lake Poopó was once Bolivia’s second largest body of water, but when asked how to get to the lake today, locals correct a visitor.

“You mean the ex-lake; the salt flat,” says Arminda Choque, 23, as she waits outside a mobile dental clinic in Llapallapani, a community of crumbling adobe-and-thatch houses inhabited by the indigenous Urus-Muratos, who have lived off the lake’s abundant fish since time immemorial. “I want my children to leave and go to college. There’s no future for them here.”

The high-altitude lake – habitat to some 200 species of birds, mammals and fish – had always fluctuated in size. But in recent years, the droughts became longer.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/04/the-ecological-catastrophe-that-turned-a-vast-bolivian-lake-to-a-salt-desert

[sandensea]

1. A lot like what befell the Aral Sea and Lake Chad

Agricultural irrigation, if uncontrolled, will dry up even the largest lakes given enough time.

It almost happened in Argentina to a body of water called Mar Chiquita (the "small sea" ), in Córdoba Province.

This lake was once a popular tourist destination; but once neighboring farmers began building canals into it for irrigation in the '50s and '60s (without a permit, I might add) it shrank quickly. Tourism dried up and the lakefront hotels closed before long.

Provincial authorities eventually cracked down on the illegal irrigation canals, and today Mar Chiquita is slowly recovering as a popular weekend tourism and camping spot.

Mar Chiquita

[Judi Lynn]

2. So they took everyone's water for themselves,nearly destroyed the creatures dependent upon the water

for their very lives, and did it for free.

This is a beautiful exception, I hope, to big, grabby greedy people's plunder of our planet, if the area is restored to life.

It's a truly good moment in the day to have read your remarks.

Viva, Mar Chiquita.

[sandensea]

3. Well said as always.

Here's hoping you can visit someday, Judi.

Btw, Did I wish you a Happy New Year? Hope you've had a great 2018 thus far - and of course henceforward.