Locals, including many who depend on fishing or eat the fish from the lake, have expressed their concerns about the impact the contamination has on their livelihoods and health.
The rubbish is accelerating the degradation of the lake’s waters, which currently have a greenish hue, according to trash extraction manager Yuri Geovani,
The Agency for the Sustainable Management of Lake Amatitlan (AMSA) has redoubled its efforts to extract tons of rubbish and dispose of it properly in sanitary landfills employing a 2,000-meter-long retention barrier on the lake’s surface.
According to AMSA, 5,420 cubic meters of waste have been extracted during 2024.
Experts said the Guatemala City metropolitan area’s industrialization is linked to Lake Amatitlan becoming a landfill.
Contaminated waters from other rivers carrying pollutants from nearby municipalities end up in Lake Amatitlan.
The contamination, which causes an increase of nitrogen in the water, has led to the excessive growth of the microscopic algae microcystis, which has a characteristic blue-green color and emits toxins that eliminate other types of algae that would help clean it up.
Since 2006, laws seeking to control the high levels of nitrogen present in the lake were approved and the surrounding municipalities received funds for the construction of water treatment plants. However, these resources have been allocated to other projects, postponing the recovery of the lake. – Report from Reuters
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