Locals In North Macedonia Fear Disaster As Ancient Balkan Lake Recedes

A platform that was once surrounded by the waters of Lake Prespa now stands on dry ground near the village of Stenje, North Macedonia, on September 6.

Water levels at Lake Prespa, which straddles the borders of North Macedonia, Greece, and Albania, are now more than 8 meters lower than in the late 1970s. Locals say they are afraid of what is to come.

Aleksandar Ilievski jumps from a platform on to dry land near the village of Stenje. In 2019 he was able plunge into the waters Lake Prespa at the exact same spot. 

"I grew up in this village and we all came to jump from this platform in the water. In 2018 we jumped a lot from it. We played with balls and everything but now you can see the situation isn't very good. The water went away."

One of the oldest freshwater ecological systems on the continent, Lake Prespa, has filled this scenic valley in southeast Europe for between one and five million years, according to experts.

Environmentalists claim that inadequate precipitation, evaporation, and excessive irrigation are the main causes of water loss.

 

A drone photo shows the location of the former waterline, which is more than 1 kilometer away from the current waterline in Pretor on September 6.

NASA said that satellite images from 2022 show that the lake had lost 7 percent of its surface area and half of its volume between 1984 and 2020. 

Fisherman Vane Vasilevski, whose boat frequently runs aground on the lake, stands at the previous year's waterline.

"There is no rain, no winter, no snow, no rivers. Only one river is coming into the lake. There is no [other] supply of water to the lake. This is a disaster, a natural disaster," Vasilevski said.

Dragan Arsovski, a biologist from the Skopje-based NGO Macedonian Geological Society, said the lake's level has risen and fallen over the centuries and that nature has survived. He said people living around the lake are not adapting to the new situation.

A boat on the receding shoreline of Lake Prespa

Vasilevski works on his rowboat.

The United Nations Development Program has warned that some wildlife species at the lake are at risk of extinction due to the destruction of their habitat through harmful farming practices, erosion, and untreated waste.

A man walks on a pier in Pretor.

In a region where financial troubles, aging infrastructure, and declining fertility rates continue to be the most pressing problems, environmental issues are frequently pushed to the bottom of the list of government priorities.

A worker takes water samples in the village of Stenje, North Macedonia, on September 7.

Concerned local governments have been taking water samples to check for the presence of pesticides and chemicals. The results show that the water quality is getting much worse in some key areas.