The Guatemalan government has installed a plant to treat and filter water as it arrives at the southeastern Lake Amatitlán, which is in danger of turning into a swamp by 2015. The plant's bio-filters will draw in the polluted water of the Villalobos River, which flows into the lake and brings with it some 500,000 tons of sediment each year, filling in the lake bottom by 70 cm annually.

The filtration process is the second phase in efforts to save the lake, says Edgar Zamora, director of AMSA, the Amatitlán watershed management authority.

The second phase started on Dec. 3 and has a budget of 20 million quetzales (2.5 million dollars). The first phase began in March.

Zamora told Tierramérica that the bio-filters will treat 300 liters of water per second, which will come out 70 percent pure.