Hazards – proposals

Written by
Dimitris Sekadakis
Nikos Digenakis
(6th grade students)

Agia Lake constitutes one of the most significant wetlands of Crete. It has rich fauna and flora and is an important area for the administration of many migrating birds. Nowadays the lake's water level is declined due to low water provision from its springs, high consumption from both households and irrigation, and harmful administrative procedures. Pollution is another threat for the lake's future. The reasons that pose this threat are the following:
  1. Various animal-breeding plants that function in the nearby area don't take appropriate measures to confront their wastes. Although the Mediterranean Integrative Program (MIP) has proposed incentives for dung processing, nobody seems to be taking advantage of these incentives.
  2. The local olive oil association of Varipetro, whose wastes end (through the canals) in Ksekolomenos River and finally in the lake.
  3. Unconscious people throw debris and litter in various places of the wetland's basin. Additionally the neighboring villages lack of an organized sewerage. Consequently, their waste products end in cesspools positioned undergrounds that, on one hand, overflow frequently and, on the other, these wastes are absorbed by the soil and finally conclude in the subterranean waters.
  4. Fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture, constitute another threat of pollution.
On the whole the lake is threatened significantly. But what is to be said? Is the lake inevitably doomed to destruction, or is it time to take appropriate measures?

Proposals.

  1. Stop building development in the whole basin.
  2. Declare the sparse bird species and plants as protected species.
  3. Proscribe hunting.
  4. Proscribe grazing in the wetland and fence off the entire basin
  5. Construct a sewerage to process the household wastes.
  6. Supervise the transformation companies that operate in the region.
  7. We all mustn't outcast debris or litter in the biotope.
  8. Respect the animals' life during our visits. Don't disturb them.
  9. Enforce legislation rules about the administration of the ecosystems.
  10. Creation of a committee, which will be responsible for the entire ecotope.
We believe that by forwarding these proposals the wetland can become a place for scientific research, educational use and controlled touristic attraction.

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