ABOUT FACTS NET Mother Earth

Fishermen went to the lake and for many years depended on their catch to feed their families. The mysterious lake was in Russia. I say was, because it was there a couple of days ago but it isn't there anymore. Overnight it disappeared. We are not talking about a pond, we are talking about a large lake. It must have drained somehow overnight because you could see where trees near the shore had been sucked in, such was the force of the emptying process. It must have been some sight to see, but no one was there. The lake was located in the Nizhny Novgorod region and the lake was about 155 miles east of Moscow. How could something like this happen? Some of the villagers blame supernatural forces but in truth several houses may have been sucked in around 70 years ago according to one villager.

But how does so much water disappear so fast? Well we know that the 4th biggest body of water on the Earth was the Aral Sea which is really a giant lake. But this huge body of water is no longer the 4th biggest. It is losing its water and is now the 9th biggest body of water. This has happened in only a few years and has earned the Aral Sea the distinction of being the fastest disappearing body of water in the world. You can't attribute this to evaporation because the water is disappearing too fast. One has to wonder where it is going? Are there underground caves that it is running into or possibly an underground sea that is taking the water out to the ocean? This begs another question. We are being told that global warming is responsible for the rise in the ocean but could the disappearance of the Aral Sea be more of a cause of this?

In Russia there is another lake named Lake Baikal. Right now it is 400 miles long, 50 miles wide and over 5,000 feet deep at its deepest point. The nearest ocean is 900 miles from it. Lake Baikal is not shrinking but it is growing bigger. Right now this lake contains 1/5 of the world supply of unfrozen fresh water. The lake is sitting on a rift in the Earth and this rift is expanding every year by about 3/4 of an inch. Could water be running into the lake from the rift or are the other streams and rivers that feed it putting out more water? Lake Baikal is fed by 330 rivers and streams.

Lake Baikal, satellite view
Photo Source: NASA

In Africa, Lake Chad was one of Africa's mightiest of lakes. Lake Chad was originally the size of Lake Erie in the U.S., but it has suffered an incredible setback. In the last 35 years it has shrunk to only 5% of its original size. If things keep going this way, there will be no more Lake Chad. What has caused this lake to shrink is no mystery however. Man has shrunk this lake with his demand for water. A climate change didn't help matters. Rainfall has declined in the area since the early 1960s. Lake Chad supplies water to Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon.

Scientists are predicting that by the year 2025 there will be a severe shortage of drinking water on Earth. They go so far to say that 1/3 of the Earth's people will need water to drink because their supply will have either disappeared or have shrunk to such a point that it will not be sufficient for their people's needs.

What a shame, our beautiful Earth, the water planet, is losing its supply of fresh water. Something has to be done now to prevent this tragedy. Better water management is needed not only in third world areas but also on the whole planet. If future generations are to have enough water to drink the ground work must be laid now.