San Bernandino brothers to help Ypacarai recovery

The Italian and Swiss cities of San Bernardino are interested in helping Paraguayan city San Bernardino in Cordillera department recover Ypacarai lake, which suffers from severe pollution due to little wastewater treatment, La Nacion quoted the Paraguayan San Bernardino mayor Luis Aguilar as saying. Aguilar, who traveled to the European cities last month to seek help for the lake recovery project, said technicians from those cities pledged to provide technical support, and that he plans to visit cities with the same name in Mexico and the US in March to seek additional help. Ypacarai is a shallow and swampy natural lake some 30km east of the capital Asuncion, with a surface area of some 60 sq. km and a maximum depth of 3m, according to the Worlds Lake Database, adding that the lake has recently suffered from progressive eutrophication owing to the nutrient discharge from surrounding crop fields, livestock farms, residential areas, deforested lands and large-scale land development. According to a report from Japan's International Cooperation Agency, wastewater and household effluent is deteriorating the water quality of both inflowing rivers and the lake, which plays a crucial role in landlocked Paraguay as a source of drinking water, tourism and fishery resources. For this reason, water quality improvement of Lake Ypacarai is an issue of national concern, says the report.