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