By Benedict Moran
NEW YORK, Dec. 18 -- Felicia Ujtan, a Mayan spiritual healer, often goes down to the shores of Lake Atitlan, in Guatemala, and prays for the lake’s forgiveness. What Ujtan finds there, says an acquaintance, is a green, swampy, fetid body of water.
“In Mayan cosmology, the lake is a grandmother, and it is alive,” said Monica Berger, an anthropologist in Guatemala who works near the lake and who recounted the story of Ujtan’s experiences. “It is really contaminated - it’s sick.”
After years of contamination from nearby communities, pollution in the once-blue Lake Atitlan recently triggered an explosive growth of cyanobacteria, a microbe that forms large beds of unslightly green algae. It turned a proud tourism attraction into a septic embarrassment.
The change took surrounding communities completely by surprise.
“The lake went from relatively normal to a total mass of green algae,” said Brad Busenius, a 31-year-old American who lives on the Lake. “That happened in about three weeks' time.”
“There’s this rotten seaweed smell - and that’s new,” he said. “I’ve never smelled anything like that in the past, it smells like a swamp.”
The cause of the growth is rooted in the peculiar geology of Atitlan. It is the deepest lake in Central America, at approximately 1,100 feet. It is also an endorheic lake, meaning it is located in a closed drainage basin. Pollution simply decomposes or sinks to the bottom to remain indefinitely.
Volcanic soil around the lake already provides numerous sources of phosphorous and nitrogen, the critical ingredients that are needed for the putrescent bacteria to develop.
But these nutrients don't exist at levels that would naturally cause a bloom. Instead, erosion from nearby road construction, and from Hurricane Stan in October 2005, caused a surge of this soil to enter the lake and a spike in the levels of phosphorous. Also, many water treatment plants around the lake are inoperative after years of neglect, leading some of the 400,000 households around the lake to dump sewage directly into its waters.
The most significant source of pollution, though, is run-off from the region’s industrial and family-run farms. Despite an adequate level of phosphorous in the soil, farmers use a government-distributed mixture of 15 percent potassium, 15 percent nitrogen, and 15 percent phosphorous that is given away free of charge.
“There has been no technological transfer to make sure that those who do use [the fertilizer] use it appropriately,” said Berger, the anthropologist. “In reality, of course, they should not apply any phosphorous.”
Though a preliminary bacteriological test led local scientists to believe that the blooming strand of bacteria was toxic – and led many journalists, including one from Time.com, to incorrectly assert that it was – recent tests from the University of California - Davis showed that the algae bloom is not a health risk.
But scientists warned that more harmful strains could still develop. As many nearby residents get their drinking water from the lake, the spread of toxic bacteria could be disastrous.
“If this one isn’t toxic, it still doesn’t mean that next year, another species that takes over might be toxic,” said Eliska Rejmankova, a scientist who worked on the study.
Ivan Azurdia, a development worker who is coordinating a $130 million government action plan, said the situation is set to get worse before improving. The only effective cleanup method is to let the bacteria eat their way through the lake’s stockpile of phosphorous.
“It is estimated that if we do everything correctly now – we will have this problem for another seven years,” Azurdia said.
Thirty-four solutions have been proposed by the government, including the installation of septic tanks, fixing the wastewater treatment plants, managing wetlands, and halting the use of phosphorous-based fertilizer in nearby communities.
A similar approach was used when Lake Tahoe in became polluted after years of sewage contamination in the 1950s. Today, Tahoe is known for the clarity of its water.
International donors have stepped in to help fund the response. Spain pledged $10 million for water and sanitation projects, while USAID, the Food and Agricultural Organization, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and a few others pledged less, according to Ana Lucia Orozco, who is coordinating the donor response at the UNDP.
But their contributions remain small. “We’re not even near covering the whole plan,” Orozco said.
Meanwhile, residents on Atitlan continue to wait until someone steps in.
“There is a lot of frustration,” said Busenius, the American resident.
“People want to do something, but they just don’t know what to do."
