Poverty And Pollution Leave Ugly Scars On Lake Atitlan

Save Lake Atitlan Mission Raising World Wide Awareness

By Greg Szymanski, JD
May 18, 2010

The face of sacred Lake Atitlan is changing as the scars of pollution and poverty now blemish the once pristine and sacred Mayan lake.

If solutions aren’t found quickly, the lake will die a slow death from toxic cyanobacteia.

If solutions aren’t found quickly, the 200,000 inhabitants relying on the lake will be pushed out, unable to survive without fresh water.

The problem has been ignored for years, ever since cyanobacteria was first detected in 1976. Instead of dealing with raw sewage and toxic fetilizer run-off pouring into the lake daily, everyone waited until the lake in 2009 became engulfed by a huge green algae scum that covered anywhere from 50 to 85 per cent of the lake depending on who was giving the eyewitness accounts.

However, Lake Atitlan is no different than many other lakes around the world, including many in the U.S. Recent reports show at least 35 states have issued toxic cyanobacteria warnings since the many different strains cause serious illness in plant, animal and human life.

In 1996, 50 people died in Brazil from cyanobacteria contamination. In recent studies, scientists have linked toxic cyanobacteria to serious neuroligical diseases, even Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig’s and Alzeheimers.

At Lake Atitlan according to Dwight Poage of Mayan Failies, disease and illness are on the rise. Recently, a day was set aside for a free health at San Marcos, one of the lakeside villages.

“We had to shut the doors at 9am because so many people needed treatment,” said Poage, who works with the poor on a daily basis. His web site can be found at www.mayanfamilies.org. “Malnutrition is high and the food draught this year hasn’t helped. Reports show food production is down about 40 per cent. More help is needed now because children are dying.”

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