AJIJIC VILLAGE HOMES    

2004 bestows good fortune on Lake Chapala

as reported by Dale Hoyt Palfrey (Guadalajara Reporter, January 1-7, 2005)

   Gazing at Lake Chapala at the dawn of 2005, it is hard to conceive that just two years ago it appeared to be a vast, muddy puddle gasping for a last breath of life.

    A phenomenal 2003 rainy season brought revival from a historic low, boosting the lake's storage volume from 17- to over 53-percent capacity in the space of six month's time. Nature has been just as generous this year, leaving Chapala at just over 75-percent capacity at the end of December.

    National Water Commission (CNA) data showed accumulated rainfall in 2004 running nine percent above last year's figure nationwide, and 16 percent above the historic average.

    Chapala registered a maximum volume of just 1.9 billion cubic meters (1,919 Mm3) of water in 2002, according to the CNA. It rose to 4,250 Mm3 in 2003 and topped out this year at 6,045 Mm3.

    But water volume is only one aspect of the increasingly rosy panorama evolving the past twelve months for Mexico's largest lake.

    In March, state and federal authorities announced the launch of a 13 million-dollar package plan for building and upgrading sewage treatment plants along the Zula and Santiago Rivers and Lake Chapala shoreline. The program is now under way in the communities bordering the lake, with construction of the new Cuitzeo facility at Chapala's eastern extreme and major installation and equipment improvements to boost operations in Chapala, San Antonio Tlayacapan and Jocotopec, all well advanced.

    In early June, federal and state agencies again pooled resources - 30 million pesos for the year - to initiate a long-term aquatic weed control program for Chapala. The massive infestation of pesky water hyacinths has already been reduced significantly and the program remains in progress.

    The federal government also reported doubling its previous budget for 2004 and 2005 programs aimed at modernizing irrigation systems in agricultural zones. The thirsty Lerma Rivera basin breadbasket has been mentioned as a major target and Lake Chapala will end up as a direct beneficiary of those efforts.

    Perhaps the best news of all, however, has been the implementation of new multilateral pacts that replace the Lerma-Chapala Basin accords of 1989 and 1991. The new agreements bind state governments, federal agencies and water consumption interest groups to follow more equitable distribution policies and concentrate more on related environmental matters.

    With a healthier Lake Chapala and signs of greater governmental commitment to diligent guardianship of natural resources, even the most ardent critics and activist groups toned down their rhetoric to spend the year focused on developing conservation and sustainable management projects that will reap long-term benefits.

    How Lake Chapala will fare in the coming year remains to be seen. Seeing it start the year in better conditions than it has known in nearly a quarter of a century is reason for guarded optimism.