Lake Chapala

The Lake Chapala ( Lago de Chapala Spanish ) is the largest lake in Mexico.

It lies in a high plateau near Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco in western Mexico. The lake has an area of 1685 km ², is located 1,520 m above sea level and is 5-12 m deep.

The Río Lerma Toluca feeds the Lake Chapala, and the Río Grande de Santiago flows from it.

Threat of Chapalasees

For a long time the Lake Chapala silted up by strong water withdrawal ( direct line to Guadalajara ), removal of vegetation in the surrounding mountains and consequent erosion and sedimentation, as well as arising from uncontrolled discharge of nutrients growth of aquatic flora and algae.

The Río Lerma should the lake annually perform approximately 2 billion cubic meters of water. Inefficient irrigation in agriculture, outdated sampling and forwarding methods and also criminal acts go the lake enormous quantities of water lost. But the big city of Guadalajara takes on the Río Santiago about 240 million cubic meters for drinking water preparation. Already 15 species, including the famous pescado blanco ( Chirostoma compressum - one of the New World ears fish), are no longer present in the Lake Chapala ( extinct? ).

Since 4 February 2009, the Lake Chapala is under the protection of the Ramsar Convention. The lake was declared in 2004 by the Global Nature Fund "Threatened Lake of the Year ." The lake is also a model project of international lake network Living Lakes.

Satellite image ( 1994)

Sunset