Lake Suchitlán's pollution crisis persists without official explanation one year after initial die-off

Nearly a year after thousands of dead fish washed ashore and invasive plants covered Lake Suchitlán, authorities have not provided explanations for the pollution or clarified how the invasive plant was removed.

• Thousands of dead fish were found on the shore of Lake Suchitlán in July 2025, and by August 2025, nearly 70% of the lake's surface was covered by water lettuce, an invasive species.
• Fishers earning about $15 a day joined clean-up crews and relied on relatives' income after the lake's collapse forced them to stop fishing, while tourism-dependent workers reported income dropping to 30% of previous levels.
• Researchers from the University of El Salvador's toxicology laboratory analyzed the water after the die-off but cautioned that monitoring was impossible during the event because dense water lettuce mats blocked sampling points.
• Residents reported seeing agriculture-use drones flying over the lake days before the die-off, but no authority has acknowledged deploying drones or using chemicals on the water.