00:00This island in Guatemala is made of garbage.
00:04There are plastic bottles, tires, sofas, even human remains have been found here.
00:11Local residents are worried about it. They fish in Lake Amatitlan and make a living from it.
00:18Tourism boat driver Celestino de la Cruz says he remembers when the lake was crystal clear.
00:26Now it's more of a greenish hue.
00:30I don't know why the lake has deteriorated. It's a shame to see it, he says.
00:35Part of the problem, experts say, is industrialization in Guatemala City's
00:39metropolitan area. Rivers carry contaminated water to the lake, which leads to excess nitrogen
00:46and propels the growth of a toxic blue-green algae.
00:50There have been laws since 2006 seeking to control nitrogen levels in the lake.
00:55And surrounding municipalities got funding for water treatment plants, but
01:00those resources were reallocated.
01:02The Agency for Sustainable Management of the lake says it's removing about a hundred trucks
01:07of trash a day, even during the heavy rains of the winter season.
01:12They placed a retention barrier on the lake's surface that's more than a mile long.
01:19We all have the intention to save the lake.
01:22It is our hope that one day we will be able to save it,
01:25says trash extraction manager Yuri Giovanni.
01:29He says without those efforts, the lake would probably be a swamp by now.
01:35The agency says over 190,000 cubic feet of trash has been scooped up this year alone.
01:42That's more than two Olympic-sized swimming pools.
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