Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan and its watershed has its beauty and its challenges. Steep mountainsides are used for agriculture production as well as urbanization, and the lake’s values must be balanced between traditional cultural uses and popular tourism. Nonpoint source pollution from wastewater, solid waste and hillside erosion, is a great concern for the watershed’s sustainability. Click on image to enlarge.

Chris Jones on Sabbatical Leave

Background

Watershed Issues in Sololá, Guatemala
Lake Atitlan is a closed system caldera lake in the highlands of Guatemala, in the governmental department of Sololá. Because of the spectacular beauty of the lake and its volcanic watershed, it is of great value for local and international tourism. At the same time, the Mayan communities that surround the lake maintain a strong traditional culture, including time-honored religious, agriculture and fishing practices. The Sololá Department's population has increased from 308,000 to 324,000 in the past 5 years (with a population density of over 300 hab/km2), and is considered to be one of the four poorest departments in Guatemala (out of 22 departments), with only 27% of the population considered economically active. Infrastructure such as wastewater treatment, solid waste collection and landfill management systems is seriously lacking in effectiveness in many cases. Another important issue is poorly controlled land planning and construction, permitting precious lakeside habitat to be urbanized and converted into private recreational home sites and hotels. Finally, landslides frequently affect the transportation system, and have occasional severe impact on communities, such as when the community of Panabaj was buried during Hurricane Stan in 2005, killing over 400 people.

A cadre of departmental and national agencies, international non-profit organizations, universities and other stakeholder interests work together to address the lake’s watershed issues within Guatemala’s challenging political infrastructure and limited economic resources for environmental protection and management.

Personal Interest
My interest in Guatemala began 20 years ago when I served in this country as a Peace Corps volunteer and married a Guatemalan I met while in service. As such, I looked for an opportunity to serve my university sabbatical leave in Guatemala to bring my experience full circle. I made contact with the Universidad del Valle Guatemala (UVG) in 2006 and found interest in watershed education programming at the UVG–Altiplano campus. When I learned that I could qualify for a Fulbright Fellowship, I prepared an application and was gratefully awarded a scholarship.

I am grateful to many people for helping me to make the Fulbright Fellowship possible, including Jim Sprinkle, Barron Orr, Deb Young, Ursula Schuch, Margo Bracamonte, Cesar Castañeda, Maria Marta Ramos and my wife Miriam.

Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan and its watershed has its beauty and its challenges. Steep mountainsides are used for agriculture production as well as urbanization, and the lake’s values must be balanced between traditional cultural uses and popular tourism. Nonpoint source pollution from wastewater, solid waste and hillside erosion, is a great concern for the watershed’s sustainability. Click on image to enlarge.