El Salvador's biggest lake is swamped by trash
STORY: El Salvador's largest body of fresh water is filled with trash
Location: Cerron Grande, El Salvador
Volunteers are working hard to remove it
(Dora Elsy Tobar, Volunteer)
"There are no jobs here in Potonico. So that also motivated us to clean up the lake, and we appreciate it because it will give us jobs."
Authorities say people living there are not responsible for the polluted water
but their health and livelihoods are paying the price
(Miriam Lorena Recinos, Volunteer)
"Most of the population is engaged in fishing and livestock farming. To go from one place to another, they must travel by boat, so they can't navigate this lake full of trash. It is a problem."
The mounting trash comes from the Lempa River
which flows from the Guatemalan highlands via neighboring Honduras
before settling in Cerron Grande, at the foot of El Salvador's biggest hydroelectric dam
