February 28, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

LAKE CHAD SHRINKING TO A ÒPUDDLEÓ

LONDON, February 28, Graphic News: LAKE Chad is currently a shadow of its great past due to increased water use and low rainfall and is destined to become a Òpuddle,Ó U.S. scientists said on Tuesday.

The African lake -- once the sixth largest lake in the world -- bordered by Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, now covers only 1,350 square km (521 sq miles), down from 25,000 square km (9,653 sq miles) in 1963, said University of Wisconsin scientists Michael Coe and Jonathan Foley in a report published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

The failure of monsoon rains since the 1960s and most recently between 1992 and 1994 forced people, livestock and wildlife species in the area to depend on the lake for survival.

ÒIt will be a puddle. YouÕll get crops and drinking water out of it, but youÕll have no ecosystem left to speak of,Ó Coe said.

The increased demands placed on the lakeÕs diminishing supply of water -- including the diversion of the rivers Chari and Hadejia for irrigation projects -- coupled with poverty, political instability and national rivalries over the scarce resource represented Òa recipe for ecological disaster,Ó Coe said.
/ENDS
Sources: Reuters, The News (Lagos)