Chile's Aculeo Lagoon dries up for the first time in 2,000 years
- 5 years ago
MAIPO, CHILE — Looks like another one bites the dust thanks to humankind.
A once beautiful lagoon near Santiago, Chile has completely dried up for the first time in 2,000 years. The cause? You guessed it. Humans.
Chile's Aculeo lagoon, a body of water that used to cover 12 square kilometers located in Paine, Chile, has completely dried up for the first time in 2,000 years.
According to researchers from the University of Chile, the disappearance of the body of water is due to urban and agricultural expansion as well as climate change and severe droughts.
Data from Chile's National Statistics Institute shows that Paine's population has increased by 45 percent from 2002 to 2017.
These communities have depleted the lagoon's water by building deep wells and extracting underground water from the aquifer.
Also, agricultural activities in the area consisting mainly of fruit plantations have extracted underground water and water directly from the lagoon 24 hours a day at a rate of up to 16 liters per minute.
Pablo Garcia, a lead researcher from University of Chile said to Chilean newspaper Publimetro, "There was no territorial planning here, the municipality authorized the use of the land without considering whether there was enough water to sustain it."
A once beautiful lagoon near Santiago, Chile has completely dried up for the first time in 2,000 years. The cause? You guessed it. Humans.
Chile's Aculeo lagoon, a body of water that used to cover 12 square kilometers located in Paine, Chile, has completely dried up for the first time in 2,000 years.
According to researchers from the University of Chile, the disappearance of the body of water is due to urban and agricultural expansion as well as climate change and severe droughts.
Data from Chile's National Statistics Institute shows that Paine's population has increased by 45 percent from 2002 to 2017.
These communities have depleted the lagoon's water by building deep wells and extracting underground water from the aquifer.
Also, agricultural activities in the area consisting mainly of fruit plantations have extracted underground water and water directly from the lagoon 24 hours a day at a rate of up to 16 liters per minute.
Pablo Garcia, a lead researcher from University of Chile said to Chilean newspaper Publimetro, "There was no territorial planning here, the municipality authorized the use of the land without considering whether there was enough water to sustain it."