Qualla: Lake Chapala https://qualla.com/lake-chapala en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/w/g/lake-chapala-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Lake Chapala https://qualla.com/lake-chapala Lake Chapala: Introduction https://qualla.com/lake-chapala/ Photo credit Borys bond, CC0. No water has flowed out of Lake Chapala in over thirty years. That fact, quiet and enormous, defines the story of Mexico's largest freshwater lake. Fed by the Rio Lerma and three smaller rivers, Chapala once drained northwest through the Rio Grande de Santiago toward the Pacific Ocean. But upstream diversion, agricultural demand, and the growing thirst of Guadalajara have reduced the inflow so severely that the lake simply absorbs what it receives and keeps it. In July 2022, the water stood at 63.63 percent of capacity. For a body of water that carbon-14 dating places at 38,000 years old, born in the late Pleistocene on one of the youngest geological areas of the American continent, the modern decline has been breathtakingly fast.

Read more: Lake Chapala on Qualla

Image: Borys bond | CC0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/w/g/lake-chapala-wp/9ewg-lake-chapala-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Lake Chapala: Shallow Water, Deep Time https://qualla.com/lake-chapala/ Photo credit Thelmadatter, CC BY-SA 4.0. Lake Chapala is an enormous lake, but not a deep one. Its mean depth is just seven meters, with a maximum of 10.5 meters. It sits in a basin surrounded by sierras with names that catalog the landscape: Cerro Viejo, Cerro San Miguel, Cerro del Tigre. Three small islands break the ...

Read more: Lake Chapala on Qualla

Image: Thelmadatter | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/w/g/lake-chapala-wp/9ewg-lake-chapala-shallow-water-deep-time.mp3 0:06 2 full Lake Chapala: Threatened Lake of the Year https://qualla.com/lake-chapala/ Photo credit Thelmadatter, CC BY-SA 4.0. Guadalajara has drawn water from Lake Chapala since the 1950s, and the consequences have been mounting ever since. Water levels began a steep decline in 1979, and though they partially recovered by 2007 and 2008, they have never returned to their pre-decline levels. The Global Na...

Read more: Lake Chapala on Qualla

Image: Thelmadatter | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/w/g/lake-chapala-wp/9ewg-lake-chapala-threatened-lake-of-the-year.mp3 0:06 3 full Lake Chapala: Pelicans, Lampreys, and 173 Species of Bird https://qualla.com/lake-chapala/ Photo credit Thelmadatter, CC BY-SA 4.0. Despite its ecological pressures, Lake Chapala remains a critical waypoint for migratory birds, including the American white pelican. The local Audubon chapter, the Audubonistas de Laguna de Chapala, conducts an annual Christmas Bird Count that has documented the lake's avian ric...

Read more: Lake Chapala on Qualla

Image: Thelmadatter | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/w/g/lake-chapala-wp/9ewg-lake-chapala-pelicans-lampreys-and-173-species-of-bird.mp3 0:06 4 full Lake Chapala: The Shoreline Villages and 30,000 Expatriates https://qualla.com/lake-chapala/ Photo credit Erwan Corre, CC BY-SA 3.0. Dozens of towns and small cities ring the lake: Chapala, Ajijic, Jocotepec, San Juan Cosala, Mezcala de la Asuncion, Tizapan El Alto, and many more. Spanish conquistadors arrived uninvited at these shores in 1530, and Western interest has never fully waned. Tourism took root in t...

Read more: Lake Chapala on Qualla

Image: Erwan Corre | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/w/g/lake-chapala-wp/9ewg-lake-chapala-the-shoreline-villages-and-30-000-expatriates.mp3 0:06 5 full