Amidst an intense rainy season, Lake Chapala finally recovers from last year’s drought

 Following a terrible drought that saw Lake Chapala suffer implicit 2 meters of h2o successful 2024, this year’s bonzer rainy season has brought overmuch eeded betterment to Mexico’s largest lake. Lake Chapala is present astatine conscionable implicit 70% capacity.

Located betwixt Jalisco and Michoacán, Lake Chapala is the Guadalajara metropolitan area’s largest h2o supply, providing implicit 60% of the region’s water.

Lake Chapala has agelong been Guadalajara’s main h2o source. (Government of Jalisco)

According to information from the National Water Commission (Conagua), the lake’s h2o levels person accrued by 1.54 meters since May 15, erstwhile it was astatine lone 49% capacity. 

Carlos Ornelas, a prof astatine the Universidad Panamericana (UP), said that the lake’s betterment volition let for a unchangeable h2o supply, avoiding shortages similar those experienced successful 2024 erstwhile respective neighborhoods successful Guadalajara and the surrounding metropolitan country experienced h2o proviso cuts and reductions owed to debased levels successful Lake Chapala. 

“With [the lake’s] betterment acknowledgment to rainfall, we volition beryllium capable to person h2o during adjacent year’s adust season,” Ornelas noted.

He besides anticipated that Lake Chapala could scope 75% of its capableness by October oregon November, perchance marking 1 of the champion rainy-season recoveries successful the past decade, lone surpassed by 2018 and 2021. 

Ornelas noted that though the water receives h2o from its ain basin, the superior root of h2o is the Lerma River.

“At the opening of the rainy season, the largest contributions travel from the lake’s ain basin due to the fact that the dams upstream of the Lerma River instrumentality a portion to capable and seizure the levels indispensable to proviso the assorted users,” helium said. 

(John Pint)

The basin Ornelas refers to is the Lerma-Chapala basin, which originates southwest of the metropolis of Toluca successful México state, astatine the root of the Lerma River. It covers implicit 52,000 quadrate kilometers and spans crossed 5 states and much than 100 municipalities.

Guadalajara’s different h2o sources besides payment from the rains

Smaller h2o bodies that proviso Guadalajara person besides benefited from the rainy season.  

The Elías González Calderón dam, successful the Zapotlanejo municipality, which provides 14% of Guadalajara’s water, is presently operating astatine 106% of its capacity, marking the dam’s second-best betterment since 2019. 

Meanwhile, El Zapotillo dam, officially inaugurated successful August 2024, comes successful astatine a adjacent second, operating astatine 105.53% of its capacity. Connected to the El Salto-La Red-Calderón aqueduct — itself inaugurated successful February 2024 —  the El Zapotillo dam is expected to beryllium capable to supply up to 3 further cubic meters per 2nd to the city.

With reports from El Informador