Lake Titicaca

"Water levels at Lake Titicaca – the highest navigable lake in the world and South America’s largest – are dropping precipitously after an unprecedented winter heat wave . . . More than three million people live around the lake, relying on its waters to fish, farm and attract tourists who boost the economy of an otherwise marginalized region. Now the lake is at risk of losing some of that magic. While water levels are known to fluctuate each year, these changes have become more extreme due to the climate crisis . . . This is part of a “gradual decline” in water levels at the lake in recent years, said [Sixto Flores, director in Puno for Peru’s national meteorology and hydrology service], and a recent study which examined satellite images from 1992-2020 showed that Lake Titicaca is losing around 120 million metric tons of water per year . . . Communities that rely on fishing are struggling as low water levels adds to mounting problems: declining fish stocks due to pollution and overfishing. Agriculture has also been impacted by drought, with regional authorities reporting that crops have suffered badly in the last harvest season."

"When I was a child in the nineties, all families on the island lived off fishing. Today only three families are fishing, catching just some 20 fishes per day . . ."

"Tucked between snow-capped mountains, Lake Titicaca was once worshipped by the Incas, who proclaimed its deep blue waters the birthplace of the sun. These days the shores of South America’s largest lake are littered with dead frogs, discarded paint buckets and bags of soggy trash. Less visible threats lurk in the water itself: toxic levels of lead and mercury . . . Untreated sewage water drains from two dozen nearby cities and illegal gold mines high in the Andes dump up to 15 tons of mercury a year into a river leading to the lake."

"Dead frogs floating belly up in the shallow water as gulls pick them off for dinner. The smell of the sulfate pollution dredged up from the bottom of the lake, responsible for suffocating the fully aquatic creatures."

"When you think of a lake, you think of this clear water, but [Lake Titicaca] is green . . . It smells like sewage."

"El Alto has grown at 4% a year for two decades as rural peasants seek a better life, and is now the country's second largest city and the largest urban centre in the Titicaca watershed. But this migration has had devastating effects on the rivers of El Alto, communities downstream and Lake Titicaca. Raw sewage, garbage and industrial waste are all dumped into the Seco River, which flows through the heart of El Alto. At the edge of the city, where the Seco begins a 40-mile journey toward Lake Titicaca, it also receives treated wastewater from the city's severely overtaxed treatment plant. Those waters mix and travel out over the flat plains . . . The majority of the sapphire blue 3,200 square-mile lake is still clean, but the signs of pollution are clear in the shallow area where waters that flowed through El Alto enter the lake. Tonnes of duckweed, a plant that grows in a thick mat in water that is high in faeces and other nutrients, have been removed from the lake's surface, where it has sucked up oxygen and choked off plant and animal life."

"Evaporation blamed on global warming has reduced Lake Titicaca, one of the world's highest navigable lakes, to its lowest level since 1949 . . . Diminished rainfall and a rise in solar radiation have in the past four years led to critically low water levels that now threaten fish spawning areas and plant life . . . The lake is fed by rainfall and melt water from glaciers, which scientists say are shrinking rapidly due to global warming and could disappear altogether by mid-century."

"The totora was the customary staple of our ancestors, and we are proud of it . . . A house costs a lot of money in Puno, but here a house is free. You just have to cut the totora.''

"The “Reserva Nacional del Titicaca” nature preserve was founded in October 1978 and covers an area of 362 sq. km north of the city of Puno in Peru."

"The divers quickly noticed that this wreck was inhabited — by giant frogs . . . This species of frog (Telmatobius culeus) differs from other species drastically. All other frogs are obliged to return to the surface regularly in order to breathe. Those of Lake Titicaca would suffocate if they were exposed to the air. Their lungs have atrophied to the point where they are useless. Yet, they do not have gills, like fish. Instead, they breathe through their skin . . . After several dives, were have come to realize that these frogs are quite numerous. We were not aware of this upon our first meeting with them because, against the muddy bottom, they are almost invisible. Now, however, the divers have concluded that there is hardly a bit of bottom without its frog . . . According to our calculations, there are about one billion of these animals in Lake Titicaca."

Seeking economic growth, the Peruvian and Bolivian governments looked the United States for help. After studying the Lake Titicaca region, the U.S. recommended to introduction of North American fish stocks. "In total, the U.S. sent about 500,000 trout eggs and 2 million whitefish eggs. The whitefish eggs didn’t survive, but the trout flourished and are now one of the most invasive species in southern Peru. Lake Titicaca, the fabled birthplace of humanity, was irreversibly altered."

"Animal life on the Lake is seldom seen away from the shores. Giulls (Larus serranus) now and then follow the steamer, and an occasional diver (Podiceps, Tachyobaptus, and Centropelma) furrows the water in that lively, dashing way which recalls the motion of a diminutive tug-boat. On expanses covered with lake-reed or "totora" (Malacochaete totora) swarms of these agile swimmers bustle about the handsome "choka" (Fulica gigantea), a stately bird of black metallic plumage with bright colored head and crest. A dark green stork-like bird, possibly a Tantalidae, stalks through marshly approaches to deeper water. In the main Lake, animal life appears almost extinct; of the six kinds of fishes, officially known, not one appears on the surface. The natives claim that there are at least a dozen species of fish in Lake Titicaca"

British explorers came to Peru in 1872 CE and surveyed the fish species in Lake Titicaca, noting one species of catfish and 19 karachi: "A more inviting opportunity for a grand experiment in fish-culture can hardly be imagined than is offered here in the extensive sheet of pure water with its numerous mountain streams, complete isolation, abundance of vegetation, and vast number of animals."

"Around [200 BCE] saw the emergence of the mighty Tiwanaku empire. Renowned for their architectural prowess, the Tiwanaku built a massive city from huge stone blocks that once housed 70,000 residents . . . The Tiwanaku people mastered agriculture, constructing terraces and complex irrigation systems to drain water from the lake. Despite living in relative harmony with other nearby inhabitants, the empire mysteriously went into decline around 1000AD. Historians suspect this may have been due to a prolonged drought which wreaked havoc on their crops."