This "tourism" problem is definitely significant and is growing rapidly, but the local peoples are causing huge amounts of problems for their lake as well.
The lake was formed tens of thousands of years ago by the colapse of a big volcanoes caldera after the magma lake below the surface was emptied and a subsequent earthquake let the suspended ash cone colapse (in geological terms, it is a very "young" feature) and it is effectively a very large hole in a mountain plateau area. So, the lake is completely surrounded by very steep mountain sides of several hundred meters high. This in turn means that whatever makes its way into this "catchment" stays here. This includes the obvious rainfall but also includes all the chemicals and effluents and polutants that the modern world loves to create. There is no river here to take it away. There is no huge ocean or unpopulated land where the unpleasant leftovers of the modern world can be dumped or hidden or discarded... It all stays here and works its way into the lake.
Im just guessing, but Im probably about right in saying there are about 100,000 people living in the lake catchment. This number is increasing exponentially (just like the rest of the world population). The local population is no longer in the "subsistence agriculture" mode, and they are in the process of adopting every modern innovation, convenience, and status symbol that they can possibly afford (which is not that much actually).
Unfortunately for the lake, the big multinational companies are well aware of the market opportunities in the developing nations and are putting every effort into selling as much of their "product" here as possible. This includes Coca Cola and Mralbro of course, but for my part Im more concerned by the likes of Monsanto and friends! The local farmers use plenty of pesticides on all their veggies coffee and maise etc.
Likewise, the local people have been washing themselves and their clothes in the lake for centuries, but now a days they are doing it using "Fab" and other modern syntghetic detergents.
It seems to me that watching the local women chatting and washing their clothes should be a refreshing view of life in a simpler time for me, but I cant help myself but be appalled at the consequences of this as I see clouds of synthetic soap being sloshed into the lake by dozens of women every day just below my hotel room!
And they have no concern at all about it because it is what they have always done... and they will keep doing it as long as they can too!
Its not because they dont have options... Every local household has a clothes washing sink where they can do the same job at home. They use the lake shore because its "social" and they can chat and the children can play together... All good stuff really, but there are more and more people here and I can just see where it is all headed.
If they did it at home, the waste water would go into the drains... and into the septic systems that are ubiquitous here) ... And from there into the soil... where bacteria would work on all the "stuff" as it slowly percolates its way down to the lake.
This of course is little different to putting it directly in the lake where the bacteria also live (though Im sure the indirect option is actually somewhat better for the lake... given that of course, neither option is good) but it would be less visible and would mean that the lake water would be better quality.
Now, the lake is big, and the water quality is not that bad (I go swimming in it every second day or so)... yet!
But its getting there!
I can see that the water will turn greener and greener as time passes. And eventually, it will start to effect the lives of the locals...which is to say that old people and infants will start to die from various infections etc. And in all likelyhood, only then will the people recognize that they need to change the way they do things.... So sad!
But perhaps the "tourism value" of the lake will actually be a blessing on this front... Its possible the government (local or national) would pass laws to protect the lakes beauty and prohibit some of these destructive behaviors. They would of course have to invest many millions of dollars to build sewerage processing centres for all the towns and all the piping in the streets etc... Actually, they would have to start by providing the town water supply for more than two or three hours per week like they currently do (electricity costs for the pump stations are the current barrier) so that people had a reliable water supply! - Yep, we've got internet but we dont got water!!
Its a huge change and I have no idea how they would go about doing it all ... I can see why it hasnt happened yet...
But then the cynic in me notes that they would only be stopping some destructive behaviors so they can encourage other different destructive behaviors!... So they can bring in more $$$!
Ahh well, change is unavoidable and all I can do is try be more constructive than destructive :))
In the mean time, Ill try not to cringe every time I see the clouds of soap in the lake.
