FIVE BLUES LAKE LOSES VOLUME

July 26, 2006

Love News spoke with of the National Resources Management Program of the University of Belize who told us that Five Blues Lake has lost about 70 per cent of its volume. Doctor Boltz said he along with technicians from the Forestry Department and representatives of Friends of Five Blues Lake went out to the area. 

Doctor Ed Boltz:

“We were looking at the current situation at the Five Blues Lake after it had collapsed, apparently what had happened is the lake has broken through a weak portion in its bottom and  the water has drained to the surface cavity and that water has been flushing through the under ground system and has been flowing down stream. The lake has lost probably seventy percent of its volume and has now exposed a lot of the cave systems that before this was under water. We are going to be following up with an investigation to see to what extent the fish and fauna have survived and we will be documenting the level of the lake and looking at the water quality of the lake. Our plans are to follow the succession of the lake hopefully it will recover places within this part of the world where this has occurred lakes tend to come back within six months  sometimes a year or more they reach their normal level after the organic plugs have been re- installed.” 

Doctor Boltz said they will now work on trying to determine the cause of this and other relevant information. 

Doctor Ed Boltz

:“The department of Geology and Petroleum is going to be more involved in looking at how this had occurred and the probably will be getting assistance from geologists that have experience in drainage systems and hydrology and will try to investigate this thoroughly. This is a very unusual geological event to witness as a human being it is something that happens probably not frequently in the history of the area but probably a cycle of several thousand years so this is a rare opportunity for us to see this kind of event up close and I think it is going to be something that will attract researchers that will want to come down and help us to solve the mystery." 

Doctor Ed Boltz of the National Resources Management Program of the University of Belize.

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