Lake Chapala’s waters have swelled notably since July 1, recuperating a significant amount of the liquid lost to evaporation during this year’s dry season.
Rainfall combined with run-off from the lake’s tributaries have contributed to the eight-centimeter rise in its level registered over the early weeks of the temporal de lluvias, and a jump of an additional five centimeters over last weekend
As of July 21, the lake stood at 63.63 percent of full capacity, compared to 51.8 percent a year ago.
While the latest figures reported by the National Water Commission (Conagua) offer a promising prognosis for the remaining three months of the wet season, they are a far cry from the full one-meter increase in water level claimed by Chapala Mayor Alejandro Aguirre, who obviously put his foot in his mouth during a July 10 interview conducted by the University of Guadalajara’s Canal 44 television channel.
Despite what appears to be wishful thinking on the mayor’s part, a slew of Jalisco-based government officials, business leaders and NGO representatives have laid down bets on their predictions for the lake’s status at the end of the rainy season. Final wagers were registered on Friday, July 15 at the traditional Pronóstico de los Niveles del Lago de Chapala luncheon hosted by the Jalisco branch of the Mexican Hydraulics Association (AMH) at an upscale lakeside events center.
During the event Froylan Suarez, a high-level Conagua-Jalisco official, was awarded a commemorative 50-peso Centenario coin for his on-target prediction for the 2021 cycle. The gold coin weighing 1.2 ounces has a current market value of around 45,000 pesos.