Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Lake Amatitlán Clean-Up Continues

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

GUATEMALA CITY, Sep 30 2006 (IPS) - Guatemalan environmental authorities will complete construction in November of the second water purification plant on the Villalobos River, which carries some 500,000 tons of sediment to Lake Amatitlán, 35 km south of the capital. It is located in the town of El Frutal, some 5 km from Amatitlán, and will be more than three kilometers long, Edgar Zamora, director of the lake's sustainable management authority, told Tierramérica.

The first plant, two km long, was completed in December 2005 and “allows the filtration of 300 liters per second, with water coming out 70 percent cleaner,” said Zamora.

The government began lake clean-up efforts in April 2005, with an investment of 29 million dollars against the threat that by 2015 it would have turned into a swamp.