Global Rumblings: A Lake Twice the Size of Los Angeles Has Evaporated—and It May Never Return

Sunday, January 24, 2016

A Lake Twice the Size of Los Angeles Has Evaporated—and It May Never Return - Yahoo News

This Beautiful Lake May Never Return

The lake—once twice the size of Los Angeles—has shrunk down to just 2 percent of its previous size, The Associated Press reports. It was officially declared evaporated in December.

Officials cite a drought fueled by El Niño weather patterns as the primary culprit for the lake’s disappearance. Located in the semiarid Andean plains at 12,000 feet above sea level, the 977-square-mile lake has dried up and rebounded in the past. But this time, experts don’t believe it will recover.

“I don’t think we’ll be seeing the azure mirror of Poopó again,” Milton Perez, a Universidad Tecnica researcher, told the AP. “I think we’ve lost it.”

That’s because El Niño weather events are becoming stronger and more frequent because of rising global temperatures, leaving the lake little time to replenish itself after a dry season. “It’s only going to get worse,” Perez said. The area has seen a temperature increase of 0.9 degrees Celsius over the past 60 years, causing water from the lake to evaporate roughly three times as fast, according to Perez.

As the water has disappeared, so have the people who depended on the lake as a source of livelihood. More than half of the people living in the nearby village of Untavi have left in the past three years.

While climate change has fueled the lake’s disappearance, locals also point to the government’s mismanagement of water sources.

Much of Lake Poopó’s water came from the Desaguadero River, which has been diverted for mining and agriculture. In recent years, the flow of water into the Lake Poopó fell to a trickle. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing the azure mirror of Poopó again,” Milton Perez, a Universidad Tecnica researcher, told the AP. “I think we’ve lost it.”