Wednesday, April 8, 2015

There's A New Attraction In Baguio City Called Chocolate Lake...Maybe Caramel Lake?

Since late last year, the waters of the man-made lake within Burnham Park have turned dirty brown prompting locals and tourists to give it new names. Chocolate Lake. Caramel Lake. Lake Milo. Lake Ovaltine. Brown Coffee Lake.

Conjuring new names is fun but seriously, what the hell is wrong with the lake? The City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) stated that the lake's new coloring is due to an overgrowth of a particular type of algae. Others outside of city hall are blaming the earth diggings at SM Baguio and at the athletic bowl. It kind of makes sense because the rehabilitation of the athletic bowl involved massive digging of the oval. Where does the washed off soil go? To the lake, maybe. However, the algae explanation seems more logical but it wouldn't be surprising if the diggings at the athletic bowl did contribute to the lake's pollution.

So what's being done about it? From where I stand, there seems nothing. Mayor Mauricio Domogan said that dredging the lake will cost millions of pesos. Take that as a shoutout that dredging is far off his mind.

Maybe we can unleash hundreds of algae-eating fish into the lake to clear it up again. This is a suggestion from a friend on Facebook. It makes sense but is it doable? For now, let's just hope that those holding power in city hall will do something about it. Because who would go boating in a lake that looks like it's been defecated on by a thousand elephants.