Monday, September 15, 2025

Lake goes dry in Chiapas’ Metzabok lagoon system but cause unknown

A lake has run dry in the Lacandon Jungle in Chiapas but the cause of the phenomenon is unknown.

The now-empty lakebed is located in the eastern municipality of Ocosingo and part of the UNESCO-protected Metzabok lagoon system, which is considered sacred by the local Mayan people.     

Local resident Armando Valenzuela said the lake dried up completely on Saturday night but water levels had been dropping during the previous two weeks.

“. . . The community was monitoring it to take care of the [wildlife] species,” he said.

Around 150 residents helped to transfer fish to other lakes in the area, the newspaper Reforma reported, although some ended up on dinner tables.    

“There’s nothing left in what was a great expanse of water and a tourist site,” said one local in a video posted to social media.

Valenzuela said there are 10 smaller lakes in the area that dry up every year but it is the first time that a larger one has lost all its water.

Staff at the Natural Protected Areas Commission told Reforma that an investigation is underway to determine the cause.

Lower than usual rainfall appears to be the most likely culprit.

The National Meteorological Service said in May that land in the catchment area of the Usumacinta river, one of several waterways that feed the Metzabok lagoon system, was in a state of extreme drought.  

Source: Reforma (sp), El Heraldo de México (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Culiacan

Threats of violence cancel ‘Grito’ celebrations in Sinaloa and Michoacán 

0
Mexico City's Iztapalapa borough will also forego celebrations out of respect for the deceased and injured in last week's gas explosion.
Jarritos truck sticks out from a sinkhole on a street in Mexico City

Sinkhole swallows Jarritos delivery truck in Mexico City

0
At least eight families living near the sinkhole have been asked to leave the immediate vicinity while authorities seek to identify the cause of the 8-meter deep crater.
crash in Yucatán

Highway accident west of Mérida kills 16, injures 2

0
A freight truck carrying beer, a passenger transport van and a private vehicle were involved in the crash on the Mérida–Campeche federal highway near the town of Kopomá, Yucatán.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity