Lake Chapala’s water level is surging thanks to torrential rains brought on by tropical storms that pounded the country during September and filled dams throughout the Lerma-Chapala watershed to the brim.
According to October 2 figures released by the National Water Commission (Conagua), the lake has now surpassed the total recuperation registered in 2013, and run-off is still gushing in from the Lerma River at a rate of 136.2 cubic meters (136,200 liters) per second.
The latest Conagua report shows all but two of the 11 largest dams located in the Lerma-Chapala watershed filled at close to or above 100 percent capacity. The agency began releasing excess liquid in the latter half of September as a string of potent storms brewed in the Pacific Ocean.
Agency experts say the amount rain water accumulated nationwide during September is the greatest quantity on record for that month in the last 125 years. And the hurricane season might still continue through October and into November.
So far the lake has recovered 98 centimeters (cm) in level since the erratic rainy season began on June 20, more than compensating for the 90 cm drop during the preceding dry months. Last year it had regained just 80 cm by October 1 and a total of 97 cm at the end of the wet season.
Chapala currently stands just above 48 percent of full capacity, holding 3.8 billion cubic meters (3,834Mm3) of water. The water surface extends over 102,932 hectares of the lake bed.
However, as good as the numbers and immediate forecast look at this point, with the exclusion of the 2012-2013 cycle, Chapala remains far off the mark of high points recorded in recent years. It will need repeats of this year’s phenomena to reverse the pattern of steady decline observed over the past decade.