Aceh's biggest lake drops 3 meters

Aceh's biggest lake drops 3 meters

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: The level of Lake Laut Tawar in Takengon, Central Aceh regency, has dropped by around three meters, the biggest water level drop in ten years, as a result of deforestation.

Ichsan Malik, evaluation officer of USAID's Civil Society Strengthening Project now assisting the Environment Forum of Nanggroe Aceh, said last weekend that the pine forest surrounding the lake in the 1980s had been made bare, reducing water resources needed by vast areas of paddy fields.

Located on he plateau of Tanah Gayo, Takengon, some 328 kilometers from Banda Aceh, the lake extends over ten kilometers with a maximum depth of 30 meters.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the regencies of North Aceh, Bireuen and notably Central Aceh depend on the lake for field irrigation as well as the large-scale industries in Lhokseumawe, whose water supply is derived from North Aceh's Peusangan river.--Antara