The cows and horses would have come for the last blades of grass. Now their bones are scattered on the cracked earth, victims of drought that wiped Santiago’s weekend playground Lake Aculeo from the map.
Lake Aculeo’s demise was so sudden and complete it seems as if someone pulled a giant plug and let all the water out.
So sudden was it that as recently as 2011 the 12km2 lagoon was a thriving weekend getaway for people from the Chilean capital an hour away. Thousands went there to swim, water-ski, sail or simply cool off in the long austral summer. They camped along its shores and lined up for tables at busy lakeside restaurants.
Photo:AFP
Now, water and cooling summers on Lake Aculeo are a fast receding memory.
“We have been suffering drought for 10 years, and now the lake has disappeared, with tourism, camping, business, everything,” campsite employee Marcos Contreras said.
Wooden jetties now poke out grotesquely over the flat plain of the lakebed. Canoes and speedboats gather dust on the former lakeshore. A giant sign on the approach shows the lake as it was — stark blue against the backdrop of the towering Andes — saying: “Help us to protect the lagoon.”
Once boasting a depth of 6m, the water level began to fall from 2011. By May last year, the lake had dried out completely.
There is no single explanation, although climate change was a key factor. Locals and experts point to a drastic decrease in rainfall, but agricultural practices requiring vast amounts of water and lakeside development were also factors.
“My grandparents remember when torrential rains fell for a minimum of a week, and today, if it’s raining for two days, we’re lucky,” said Camila Nunez, 20, who works in a nearby restaurant.
Average annual rainfall in central Chile during the 1980s was nearly 350mm. By last year, that had fallen by half.
Scientists predict it will continue to fall because of global warming.
“We are living through a very prolonged period of drought that has lasted several years,” said Eduardo Bustos, director of climate change research at the Catholic University of Chile.
“In the future, we see that there is a tendency for rainfall to decrease, so it is very likely that the next few years will be as dry as those we have experienced,” he said.
About 70 percent of Chile’s population live in drought-prone areas where rainfall has decreased significantly.
Experts estimate temperatures are to continue to rise until 2030 and water levels inland are to drop by as much as 30 percent.
However, other factors contributed to the ecological disaster at Lake Aculeo. A viable lake meant booming tourism. It proved a magnet for developers. Second homes and shops mushroomed, hiking up domestic water demand in a short time.
Farming put added pressure on the ecosystem which led to over-exploitation of the lake for irrigation purposes, particularly for the lucrative avocado crop.
“The need for water by crops in the adjacent agricultural area generated pressure on the lagoon” until it was empty, Bustos said.
What is left behind is a dusty landscape of crusty earth and spindly, dried shrubs, as well as summer memories for people such as Antonia Romero, a 26-year-old who grew up on its shores and is now employed at one of the few functioning campsites
“We were killing the lake little by little,” Romero said.
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