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Newsletter - 10/2009With the recent reappearance of lirio on Lake
Chapala, we're reprinting a newsletter from Ways to control lirioOne of the main questions that many people have with regard to the future of Lake Chapala has to do with the water hyacinths (otherwise known as “lirio”) that float on the lake’s surface and that, at various times, interfere with fishing, tour boats, wading birds, and other features of daily life-at-the-lake. From time to time, there are efforts to “deal with” the lirio, but the problem persists. This edition of our newsletter will focus on some of these efforts and the issues behind them. Lirio is found on many lakes throughout the world. It is a floating plant that can be quite beautiful at times, with its light purple flowers, and has been used in home gardens for many years. Another less well-known benefit is that lirio absorbs heavy metals that are often found in contaminated bodies of water, making those heavy metals less available for fish and other water creatures to feed on. On the other hand, lirio is hard to control. It reproduces at a tremendous rate--doubling in volume every 15 days or so if left on its own. At the present time, approximately 30% of Lake Chapala is covered with lirio. It is impossible to determine from day to day where the lirio will be; this depends primarily on water and wind currents. There have been times in recent months, for example, when the pier at Chapala was so surrounded by lirio that the fishing and tour boats were unable to navigate the lake at all for up to two weeks at a time. This problem is why residents, scientists, and government people have all started to wonder what can be done to reduce the lirio problem once and for all. Many ways to control lirio growth at Lake Chapala have been proposed or tried. These include:
Some of these methods create additional problems, while others are quite expensive to implement. Amigos del Lago has been learning about approaches that have helped save other endangered lakes from the threat of increasing lirio growth. What would the “best” approach be? It depends on whom you ask. Ideally, the powers that be would work together to come up with an integrated, long-term strategy for addressing the lirio problem. In reality, however, this does not seem to be happening, and there is little coordination among the Mexican units of government that are involved. Organizational (and/or personal) self-interests seem to determine, to a large extent, the approaches that are tried, and it often appears that the simplest ideas get little or no attention. In addition, scientists themselves sometimes disagree about what would be best; with scientific papers representing various points of view available about each of the options listed above. Amigos del Lago continues to work with our Living Lakes/Global Nature Fund partners and with local scientists at the University of Guadalajara to understand the pros and cons of each approach and to speak out about what we know. In any case, solving the “lirio problem” will require a true commitment to improving our environment, sound thinking by scientists, government officials and lay people alike, collaboration among both governmental and non-governmental entities, citizen involvement, and needed financial resources. Amigos del Lago will continue to work hard to ensure that the interests of the general public, and the overall environment, are paramount in discussions about what to do about the lirio at Lake Chapala. Amigos del Lago Board of Directors |