{"id":539325,"date":"2026-07-13T14:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/539325\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T14:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:21:10","slug":"first-came-the-dead-fish-then-invasive-plants-a-year-later-and-lake-suchitlans-pollution-remains-a-mystery-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/539325\/","title":{"rendered":"First came the dead fish, then invasive plants. A year later and Lake Suchitl\u00e1n\u2019s pollution remains a mystery | Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the village of Copapayo, Noel Avalos recalls the morning they ran to the shore of Lake Suchitl\u00e1n, El Salvador<\/a>\u2019s main hydroelectric reservoir, also known as Cerr\u00f3n Grande, and its largest body of freshwater, to find thousands of dead fish<\/a> had washed up overnight.<\/p>\n

By August 2025, nearly 70% of the lake\u2019s 135 sq km<\/a> (33,000 acres) surface was carpeted with an invasive species, water lettuce<\/a> (Pistia stratiotes). In the following months, plastic waste accumulated along the shoreline, dead fish became more frequent and residents who rely on fishing the lake for income reported that their livelihoods were deteriorating.<\/p>\n

Nearly a year later, no explanations have been provided; the Salvadorian authorities, under President Nayib Bukele\u2019s authoritarian government<\/a>, remain silent, and questions about responsibility go unanswered.<\/p>\n

Lake Suchitl\u00e1n last year, when the water lettuce bloom covered nearly 70% of the reservoir. Photograph: Camilo Freedman<\/p>\n

The die-off did not occur in a remote ecosystem. Lake Suchitl\u00e1n is a Ramsar site<\/a> \u2013 a wetland home to 12 of El Salvador\u2019s 14 native fish species, as well as cougars and ocelots at risk of extinction. It is also a reservoir feeding the Cerr\u00f3n Grande dam, which supplies roughly 28% of the country\u2019s hydroelectric power<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Lake Suchitl\u00e1n collapses, at stake is the nation\u2019s food security, power generation and public health, say experts.<\/p>\n

For fishers, who earn about $15 (\u00a311) a day, the lake\u2019s 2025 collapse forced them to join clean-up crews and rely on relatives\u2019 income or crops. The military was also mobilised to assist with the operation.<\/p>\n

The pollution has also affected tourism, one of the few alternative sources of income around the lake. Local guides say visitors who once came for boat tours, birdwatching and lakeside restaurants stopped coming as the water turned opaque and foul-smelling.<\/p>\n

Boat operator Alberto Castillo, who had to take on other jobs as tourists stayed away. Photograph: Camilo Freedman<\/p>\n

Alberto Castillo, a boat operator in the nearby town of Suchitoto, says: \u201cThe clean-up seemed impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are starting to come back very slowly, but during these months we had to take different jobs, getting only 30% of what we were making before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientists and local environmental organisations had warned for years that untreated sewage, agricultural runoff and weak water-quality enforcement were pushing the lake towards collapse.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Cer\u00e9n, a biologist, says the nutrient overload in the water was severe. \u201cWhat facilitates the reproduction [of the water lettuce] is the high amount of nutrients that the Lempa River gets from fertilisers that end up in the lake and concentrates a high amount of nitrogen and sulphates,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Under such conditions, invasive plants such as water lettuce flourish, depleting the oxygen that fish and other aquatic life need to survive. Fish died, mosquito numbers surged, and persistent foul smells rose from the water, marking a turning point that transformed what had long been a gradual deterioration into an ecosystem breakdown.<\/p>\n

If there was an official explanation for what happened, it never reached the communities that depend on the lake. In the weeks after the die-off, researchers from the University of El Salvador\u2019s toxicology laboratory (Labtox<\/a>) were asked to analyse the water.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, the request came through institutional channels linked to the courts \u2013 an arrangement under which the lab provides technical support without publishing public reports.<\/p>\n

A microscopic view of cyanobacteria in a water sample collected by Labtox. Photograph: Camilo Freedman<\/p>\n

Labtox is one of the few institutions in the country equipped to monitor cyanobacteria, organisms that thrive in nutrient-rich water and can release toxins harmful to humans and wildlife. Their work at Suchitl\u00e1n focused on measuring nitrogen and phosphorus, key indicators of eutrophication, or over-enrichment of water with nutrients.<\/p>\n

Yet they do not test for pesticides or herbicides, including paraquat, the extremely poisonous chemical widely known in the region by the trade name Gramoxone.<\/p>\n

double quotation markWe\u2019ve had fish die before, but nothing like this. First the water lettuce, then the plastic, now the fish \u2013 it demands attentionAlberto Castillo<\/p>\n

By the time sampling was carried out, several weeks after the fish had washed ashore, results showed no anomalies. Nutrient levels were within expected ranges, and no active cyanobacterial bloom was detected.<\/p>\n

The researchers cautioned against drawing conclusions. During the die-off itself, monitoring was impossible. Dense mats of water lettuce covered the surface, blocking access to sampling points and disrupting standard measurements, they alleged.<\/p>\n

For residents, the gap between what they witnessed and what could be proven has deepened mistrust. Fishers and local leaders say the water lettuce appeared suddenly and was cleared just as abruptly. Videos recorded by residents show agriculture-use drones flying low over the lake in the days before the die-off. No authority has acknowledged deploying drones or using chemicals on the water.<\/p>\n

A satellite view of the water lettuce bloom in last August. Photograph: Copernicus Sentinel-2\/European Union<\/p>\n

A local newspaper reported<\/a> that residents travelling by boat across the reservoir were told by fishers and community members that poison or some kind of chemical had been sprayed from the air to eliminate the aquatic plants. Others speculated that a vein of sulphur beneath the lake had been disturbed.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every fortnight<\/p>\n

Sign up to Global Dispatch<\/p>\n

Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features, opinion and photography, curated by our global development team<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

None of these claims has been confirmed. What remains consistent is the silence in a country where, according to campaigners, human rights have been ignored<\/a> by a steadily more repressive regime<\/a>, and environmental activism is becoming increasingly dangerous<\/a>.<\/p>\n

El Salvador\u2019s environment, agriculture and health ministries have not commented on how the water lettuce was removed or addressed whether chemicals were used.<\/p>\n

Noel Avalos, a fisherman from Copapayo, says the community is obliged to eat what they catch despite health concerns. Photograph: Camilo Freedman<\/p>\n

In Copapayo, a lakeside community of families displaced during El Salvador\u2019s civil war<\/a>, uncertainty has again become part of daily life. Avalos, who settled there after the conflict ended, says the scenes on the lake would trouble anyone unfamiliar with it.<\/p>\n

Despite concerns, many families continue to eat what they catch as fishing provides one of the few available sources of protein. \u201cWe eat them out of necessity,\u201d Avalos says. \u201cOur bodies have had to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is unfolding at Suchitl\u00e1n is not an isolated episode. Across Central America, lakes and reservoirs are showing signs of strain as pollution, rising temperatures, land-use change and weak environmental oversight converge.<\/p>\n

Nearly a year after the dead fish washed up, environmental concerns persist around Lake Suchitl\u00e1n. In June, the government-run newspaper reported a large amount of rubbish<\/a> swept into the reservoir after a storm.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, authorities were also forced to respond to a large cyanobacterial bloom in Lake Coatepeque<\/a>, one of El Salvador\u2019s most important freshwater lakes and tourism destinations. Environmental officials attributed the outbreak of the blue-green algae to high temperatures, intense solar radiation and excess nutrients in the water.<\/p>\n

Plastic and other rubbish that contaminated the lake near Suchitoto in December. <\/p>\n

Untreated wastewater and expanding development around Lake Atitl\u00e1n in Guatemala<\/a> has also led to recurring cyanobacterial blooms. Lake Yojoa in Honduras<\/a> faces similar stressors, with communities reporting fish deaths<\/a> and declining water quality tied to agricultural runoff, deforestation and industrial activity.<\/p>\n

Suchitl\u00e1n offers a particularly human-scale view of that crisis. Tourists have reported skin rashes after swimming in the lake. In Copapayo, residents say mosquito populations exploded after the die-off, making it difficult to sleep at night. Public health reports list<\/a> gastrointestinal and acute respiratory infections among the most common illnesses in communities around the lake.<\/p>\n

A crested caracara (Caracara cheriway) flies over rubbish near Suchitoto. <\/p>\n

Residents have been left with a lake that appears normal again; the fish have returned and the water lettuce is gone. But for those who live along the lakeshore, the crisis has exposed years of structural neglect. El Salvador treats only a fraction of its wastewater, and municipalities upstream discharge effluent directly into rivers that feed the reservoir.<\/p>\n

Environmental regulations rarely translate into enforcement, and agencies responsible for monitoring water quality remain chronically underfunded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lake needs an urgent study,\u201d Castillo says. \u201cWe\u2019ve had fish die before, but nothing like this. First the water lettuce, then the plastic, now the fish \u2013 it demands attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

For residents such as Avalos, the concern is not only what happened in 2025, but whether the conditions that created the crisis remain today. He steers his boat through narrow channels cut into the vegetation. \u201cThis has become the perfect breeding ground for it to happen again and again,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s pure contamination.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the village of Copapayo, Noel Avalos recalls the morning they ran to the shore of Lake Suchitl\u00e1n,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-539325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}