Aquatic plant covers lake in El Salvador and drives away tourists

A light green floating plant that feeds on chemical pollution has covered the waters of Lake Suchitlán in El Salvador, paralyzing artisanal fishing and tourism.

Fed by the waters of the mighty Lempa River, Suchitlán is a 13,500-hectare artificial lake, built around 1976, which supplies the Cerrón Grande hydroelectric plant. Located 45 km northeast of San Salvador, it was declared a wetland of international importance in 2005 under the Ramsar Convention.

The expansion of this aquatic plant, scientifically named Pistia stratiotes, also known as water lettuce, has left boaters offering tours on the lake without income, while restaurants along its banks are facing losses due to the lack of tourists.

"The truth is that the water lily affects us every year, but now it's gone too far. It's very crowded today," Julia Álvarez, a 52-year-old boatwoman, told AFP.

The reservoir is home to rich biodiversity, with migratory birds on its islands, but now most of its surface is covered by plants, whose expansion has been favored by wind and abundant rainfall.

Boatman Felicito Monroy said the phenomenon affects them "one hundred percent." "We haven't been able to get on the boats for ten days, and the fishermen can't even fish," he said.

To restore the lake's navigability, "we have to work until it is completely destroyed," said the 65-year-old worker.

"Nowadays, people just come, look, and leave right away. They don't enjoy the tours, they don't stay to savor the dishes, because the attraction is the water, the lake," Johnny Anzora, 44, a waiter at a restaurant, told AFP.

Biologist and researcher Cida Cortés explained that the rivers and streams tributary to the Suchitlán carry “contamination” to the lake.

“These waters contain heavy metals, aluminum, arsenic, lead (…), so it’s like throwing fertilizer into the water, the algae also feed on this and grow exponentially,” he summarized.

In an effort to eradicate this perennial plant, five dredges are used in its removal.

So far, about 6.3 hectares of the reservoir, the equivalent of nine football fields, have been cleaned, removing about 1,270 tons of water lilies, according to the Lempa River Hydroelectric Executive Commission, a state agency.

But biologist Cortés warned that these dredges “will not clean the water, because it is necessary to prevent dirty water from entering” the river.

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