Bolivia's Lake Poopó Dries Up and Scientists Fear It Is Unlikely to Refill

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Bolivia's Lake Poopó was once a source of life for the local inhabitants, who fished in its abundant waters and farmed along its shores.

Now it is a desert.

Scientists say the ancient lake, which straddles Bolivia's sun-drenched high-altitude plateau, has been the victim of decades of water diversion to meet regional irrigation needs.

And warmer and drier weather has made their recovery increasingly unlikely.

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"It's like a perfect storm," says Jorge Molina, a researcher at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés.

"With each passing year the situation worsens."

The lake, the second largest in Bolivia, is very shallow and has traditionally ebbed and flowed, according to scientists and ancient Aymara inhabitants.

Valerio Rojas, who once made a living fishing in the lake, says that the village elders say that the lake recharges every 50 years.

But as he gazes out at the remaining white-fringed, parched salt desert, he has his doubts.

“Will the lake fill up again?

With this climate change and pollution, it seems to me that the climate can no longer be predicted ”, he reflects.

"In our Aymara language it is said that: 'Our mother earth is tired."

In our Aymara language it is said that: 'Our mother earth is tired'.

Valerio Rojas

Scientists are also becoming skeptical.

Molina says the Andes are outpacing the global average temperature rise, especially during the day, which means evaporation has increased, making it especially difficult for a shallow lake to survive.

"A lake that dries up too often is no longer functional for fauna, flora and biodiversity," he explains.

The drought is also driving away communities that once lived along its shores, warns Benedicta Uguera, an indigenous woman from Untavi, who once raised cattle on an island in the lake.

"The families decided to leave because we cannot survive without water, and there is no more life."

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