2023-08-15 06:02:52
The parched shores and shrinking depths of Lake Titicaca are prompting growing concern that an ancient way of life will be lost around South America’s largest lake as a brutal heat wave takes its toll.
Drought hits hard at Lake Titicaca. For the past two years, the rainfall that fills the lake between December and March has been lower than usual. As a result, the level is extremely low and local populations are suffering. Along the shores of the lake, once fertile areas are reduced to vast expanses of dust.
The level of this body of water, at more than 3807 meters above sea level, is today 25 cm from its historic low recorded in 1996, underlines Lucia Walper, head of the forecasting unit. of the National Service of Hydrology and Meteorology of the Bolivian State.
A receding shore
Juan, in his twenties, raises cows in Huarina, southeast of the lake. “There is no more water for the cows. As it is drying, the lake is further away and it is more complicated to water the cows”, he explains Monday in the 12:30 p.m. of the RTS. Previously located at the water’s edge, Huarina is now more than half an hour’s walk away. “It’s as if the earth was burning,” laments Mayor Gabriel Flores.
>> See images of Lake Titicaca:
Lake Titicaca suffers from drought / Video news / 1 min. / yesterday at 6:02 p.m.
Copacabana, a town 80 kilometers away, is the main Bolivian tourist center overlooking Lake Titicaca. The drop in the water level now makes certain areas inaccessible and fishing activities are also strongly impacted. “We are worried because this year the water level is dropping too much. I am 64 years old, I have worked here since I was 8 years old, but I have never seen that”, testifies Silverio, active in the tourism sector.
For anglers, fishing for native fish is almost doomed. If overfishing had already reduced the number of fish in lake waters, drought now also prevents them from reproducing.
A fisherwoman drives her boat through a narrow waterway near the shore of Lake Titicaca during the drought season in Huarina, Bolivia, August 3, 2023. [Claudia Morales – Archyde.com]
Combination of factors
For decades, the waters of Lake Titicaca have fluctuated. Located 3800 meters above sea level, it is extremely vulnerable to solar evaporation, according to experts from the Technical University of Oruro in Bolivia.
According to Lucía Walper, head of the hydrological forecasting unit of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Bolivia, the drought is the result of a combination of factors, including natural phenomena such as La Niña and El Niño, which occur exceptionally early this year and particularly strong due in particular to climate change.
The army’s national naval hydrographic service has issued a drought alert, which is expected to last until the end of November. In the next few days or weeks, it is very likely that the lake’s historic minimum of 1996 – the year when there was a severe drought – will be exceeded.
kkub with agencies and ns
1692083398
#Drought #heat #wave #empty #Lake #Titicaca #Bolivia #Peru
