lakes around the world are drying up according to an alarming report

The bottom of Lake Titicaca, in Bolivia, has completely dried up, transformed into a desert. The lake of Serre-Ponçon, in the Alps, reveals new banks, it is the same in Spain or in Voglans, in the Jura. According to a study published in the journal Sciences, one in two lakes in the world has seen its level drop over the past thirty years. “This fresh water is our main resource for humanity and its environment and we don’t take care of it”says Balaji Rajagopalan, professor at the University of Colorado (USA).

87% of our freshwater reserves are in lakes

Lakes contain 87% of our freshwater reserves. Among the causes of their loss of level, there is the abstraction upstream for human activity, such as agriculture, the lack of rain, but also global warming. Lakes lose a great deal of water through evaporation and rainfall, even abundant, is not enough to rebalance these losses. The report explains that even cold and humid areas are affected. Water quality also decreases as quantity decreases, with pollutants being more concentrated.