Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Water use · Venezuela · 1976–2023

Lake Valencia: rising level, sewage and compensation for flooded homes

Nature's voice · report
My level rose from about 401–402 metres at the end of the 1970s to 413.43 metres in 2012 and 414.10 metres in 2017, against a security level of 408 metres, according to Armando.info citing engineers.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Disputed
Recorded
  • NASA stated in 2004 that since 1976 my water levels have risen due to diversion of water from neighboring watersheds. NASA Earth Observatory
  • Algal blooms in me result from a continual influx of untreated wastewater from urban, agricultural and industrial land uses, according to NASA (2004). NASA Earth Observatory
  • I receive 360 million cubic metres of wastewater each year, according to Armando.info (2017). Armando.info (Patricia Marcano)
  • My area went from 250 km² in 1978 to about 400 km², according to Nizar Richani (2023), an unofficial figure. El Diario
  • Effluents from treatment plants in my basin exceeded Decree 883 limits in 2010–2011, by up to 710% for some parameters, according to an NGO submission citing official values. Movimiento por la Calidad del Agua and others (hosted by PROVEA)
  • The Pao-Cachinche reservoir, which receives water pumped from me, has been covered by Lemna and water hyacinth since January 2010, with cyanobacteria dominant beneath, according to the same submission. Movimiento por la Calidad del Agua and others (hosted by PROVEA)
What the record lacks: 5 none on record · 7 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Lake level compared with the 2006 expectation
  • Government and regulators Ministry of the Environment (November 2006): The level has begun to descend and levels below 410 m are expected with a probability of 90%. Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional (via vLex Venezuela)
  • Press and investigations Armando.info (2017), citing engineers: The lake reached 413.43 m in 2012 and 414.10 m in 2017. Armando.info (Patricia Marcano)
  • Communities and civil society Colegio de Ingenieros de Carabobo (2023): About 414 m, an unofficial figure, and 'the most serious environmental and water problem in Venezuela'. El Diario
Transfer of lake water to the Pao-Cachinche reservoir

Water imported for the Central Regional aqueduct has drained into Lake Valencia, which has no outlet; its level rose from about 401–402 m in the late 1970s to about 414 m, against a security level of 408 m. The Constitutional Chamber of Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal ordered compensation for flooded homes in 2006 and 2007, and in 2017 about half of the affected owners were still waiting.

414.10 mLevel of Lake Valencia in 2017, against a security level of 408 m
Armando.info citing engineers; engineers gave about 414 m in 2023, an unofficial figure.

Status As of September 2023: the lake was at about 414 m (unofficial figure); the 2006 and 2007 Constitutional Chamber rulings and a 2015 ruling remained unexecuted for part of the owners as of 2017.

What?
Water imported into the Lake Valencia basin since the 1970s drains into a lake with no outlet, raising its level from about 401–402 m to about 414 m against a security level of 408 m, flooding homes in South Maracay and loading the lake with wastewater; the Constitutional Chamber ordered compensation in 2006 and 2007. Armando.info (Patricia Marcano)
Where?
Lake Valencia, an endorheic basin shared by Aragua and Carabobo states, north-central Venezuela; South Maracay (La Punta, Mata Redonda, Paraparal, Aguacatal, Las Vegas, La Esmeralda) and Carabobo shores; Pao-Cachinche reservoir at 9°53'N, 68°08'W. Armando.info (Patricia Marcano)
When?
Level rise since 1976; rulings 1632 (11 August 2006) and 1752 (13 August 2007); lake at 414.10 m in 2017; about 414 m in 2023. NASA Earth Observatory
Who?
Gained
Lost
Harmed
Why?
NASA attributed the rise to diversion of water from neighboring watersheds; Armando.info reported that imported aqueduct water and wastewater drain into the lake and that most planned treatment plants and level-control works were not built; ecologist Lenin Cardozo (2011) said sedimentation from deforestation and poorly managed settlement in the 3,150 km² watershed contributes. Armando.info (Patricia Marcano)
How?
The Constitutional Chamber ordered eviction after restoration of each home's economic value and appointed Civil Protection to value damage; the state pumped lake water to Pao-Cachinche from 2007; the La Punta embankment was raised in 2011/2012 and extended in 2017. Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional (via vLex Venezuela)
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Lake Valencia is an endorheic basin shared by Aragua and Carabobo states in north-central Venezuela. Between 1975 and 1978 the Central Regional System I and II aqueduct was built; it imports water from other basins and its wastewater drains into the lake. NASA wrote in 2004: 'Since 1976 Lake Valencia water levels have risen due to diversion of water from neighboring watersheds.' In 1978 the Ministry of the Environment set the maximum security level at 408 m above sea level. The lake stood at about 401–402 m at the end of the 1970s, reached 408 m in 1999, 410 m in 2005, 413.43 m in 2012 and 414.10 m in 2017 according to Armando.info citing engineers; engineers gave about 414 m in September 2023, an unofficial figure. Nizar Richani of the Colegio de Ingenieros de Carabobo said the lake grew about 12.5 m in height and from 250 km² (1978) to about 400 km² between 1978 and 2023, an unofficial figure, and that the level-control works planned with the aqueduct were not executed.

In 1995 a technical study by Caltec-Otepi-CDM for the Ministry, supported by the IDB, led to the rejection on environmental grounds of a tunnel through Henri Pittier National Park to the Caribbean; the 'West Alternative' of 17 treatment plants was chosen. Only 3 of the 17 plants (Los Guayos, La Mariposa and Taiguaiguay) were built in 1995–1997. In 2005 a 'Project for Lake Valencia Clean Up and Level Control' was approved with a four-year schedule, due in 2009. Armando.info (17 September 2017) reported that the lake receives '360 million cubic meters of wastewater each year', that 8,000 families in seven South Maracay areas were at risk, that '14 cleaning works planned and financed' were 'not executed', and that only 93 km of collectors were built in 1999–2009, so that only 51% of sewage reached plants, citing a 2009 Carabobo Regional Comptroller audit. Los Guayos stopped working in 2016 and was dismantled after equipment theft; La Mariposa stopped in August 2017; Taiguaiguay was abandoned, according to Marino Azcárate of the Aragua engineers' association.

The La Punta embankment (1,200 m), built in 2005 at 412 m and raised by 2.40 m to 414.40 m, protects a pumping station that discharges sewage into the lake; it was extended by 1 m in August 2017. In 2005 Resolution 002 of the Housing Ministry (Gaceta Oficial 38,124, 10 February 2005) authorised SAVIR to compensate flooded families, and owners of 101 homes in La Punta and Mata Redonda were compensated. Residents of La Punta and Mata Redonda brought an amparo against the Ministry of the Environment before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (Exp. 00-1362). Ruling 1632 of 11 August 2006 ordered the residents' eviction 'prior restoration of the economic value of each of the homes' and urged all public bodies to continue the clean-up and level-control plans 'with the greatest priority and diligence possible'. Ruling 1752 of 13 August 2007 dealt with execution: it appointed Civil Protection to identify affected residents and value the damage, declared the non-transfer conditions in the compensation contracts void and ordered notification of the Ombudsman. In the execution record the economic value determined for 134 La Punta homes was Bs. 36,635,312,865.00 (bolívares before the 2008 redenomination); the value of 122 further La Punta homes and 730 Mata Redonda homes was still pending. A third ruling in 2015 ordered execution of the 2006 and 2007 rulings and payment of amounts pending from a 2011 settlement; in 2017, 512 of 1,043 La Punta and Mata Redonda owners were still awaiting compensation.

Since 2007 the state has pumped lake water to the Pao-Cachinche drinking-water reservoir (5,000 l/s capacity) and diverted the Cabriales river to it, without an environmental impact study, according to a 2011 submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review by a coalition of NGOs, which classed Pao-Cachinche as hypereutrophic on the basis of a 2004 Universidad Central de Venezuela study financed by HIDROCENTRO. Plans for a transfer to the Caribbean were under study by the Ministry in 2011. A 2009 decree prohibited sugarcane, a high-water-consumption crop, on 53,000 ha of the basin; the harvested area in Aragua fell from 11,000 to 3,000 hectares.

Public spending on plans, programmes and projects for the basin was Bs. 747,766,208.14 in 1999–2009 according to the 2009 Carabobo Regional Comptroller audit as reported by Armando.info, which converted the amount to US$ 343,337,829.36 and gave 'US$ 385 million' including amounts approved in 2009–2012. In April 2006 a basin authority official said cleaning the lake with an investment of US$ 70 million could take six years. In November 2022 homes in South Maracay had been flooded for months, according to Voice of America.

  1. 1976NASA dates the start of the level rise to this year; the Central Regional aqueduct (built 1975–1978) imports water into the basin
  2. 1978Ministry of the Environment sets the maximum security level at 408 m
  3. 1995Caltec-Otepi-CDM study; Caribbean tunnel rejected; 17-plant West Alternative chosen; 3 plants built by 1997
  4. 1999Lake reaches 408 m, first time since 1894 according to an engineer; La Punta and Mata Redonda owners sue (Nov)
  5. 2005Lake reaches 410 m; Resolution 002 authorises compensation of flooded families (10 Feb); clean-up and level-control project approved for four years
  6. 2006Constitutional Chamber ruling 1632 (11 Aug)
  7. 2007Constitutional Chamber ruling 1752 (13 Aug); transfer of lake water to Pao-Cachinche begins
  8. 2012Lake at 413.43 m; emergency housing area decree (13 Mar)
  9. 2015Third Supreme Tribunal ruling orders execution of the earlier rulings
  10. 2017Lake at 414.10 m; 512 of 1,043 owners still awaiting compensation; Los Guayos dismantled in 2016 and La Mariposa stopped in August
  11. 2022South Maracay homes flooded for months (Nov)
  12. 2023Engineers give about 414 m, an unofficial figure (Sep)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“Since 1976 Lake Valencia water levels have risen due to diversion of water from neighboring watersheds.”

“were not executed”

Nizar Richani, Colegio de Ingenieros de Carabobo, on the level-control works planned with the aqueduct · September 2023 · translated from Spanish · El Diario

“It is the most serious environmental and water problem in Venezuela.”

Nizar Richani, Colegio de Ingenieros de Carabobo · September 2023 · translated from Spanish · El Diario

“We already exhausted all legal resources.”

“with the greatest priority and diligence possible”

“Here one cannot live”

A South Maracay resident, in Voice of America · November 2022 · translated from Spanish · Voz de América

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Lake level compared with the 2006 expectation
Government and regulators
Ministry of the Environment (November 2006)

The level has begun to descend and levels below 410 m are expected with a probability of 90%.

Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional (via vLex Venezuela)
Press and investigations
Armando.info (2017), citing engineers

The lake reached 413.43 m in 2012 and 414.10 m in 2017.

Armando.info (Patricia Marcano)
Communities and civil society
Colegio de Ingenieros de Carabobo (2023)

About 414 m, an unofficial figure, and 'the most serious environmental and water problem in Venezuela'.

El Diario
Transfer of lake water to the Pao-Cachinche reservoir
Government and regulators
Government, as described in the 2011 NGO submission

Presented as level control.

Movimiento por la Calidad del Agua and others (hosted by PROVEA)
Communities and civil society
NGO coalition (Movimiento por la Calidad del Agua and others), 2011

Contamination of a drinking-water source, carried out without an environmental impact study since 2007; the Cabriales river was also diverted into the reservoir.

Movimiento por la Calidad del Agua and others (hosted by PROVEA)
Communities and civil society
Fundación Vida Verde (2011)

Demands solutions other than the transfer of the lake's water to the Pao-Cachinche reservoir.

IPS / Tierramérica
Flow of the water transfer
Communities and civil society
NGO submission (2011)

5,000 l/s capacity.

Movimiento por la Calidad del Agua and others (hosted by PROVEA)
Press and investigations
Armando.info (2017)

La Mariposa treated lake water for transfer of 5,600 l/s to Pao-Cachinche.

Armando.info (Patricia Marcano)
Appraisal of flooded homes
Communities and civil society
Residents of La Punta and Mata Redonda (May 2007 filings)

Delays in compensation, 'abuses and irregularities' in appraisals and objections to depreciation deductions 'in the order of 65 and 120 million' (bolívares).

Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional (via vLex Venezuela)
Courts
Constitutional Chamber (ruling 1752, 2007)

Appointed Civil Protection to identify affected residents and value the damage, declared the non-transfer conditions in the compensation contracts void and ordered funding through the emergency/catastrophe mechanism.

Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional (via vLex Venezuela)

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

Recorded

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
Plans, programmes and projects for the basin, 1999–2009 (Carabobo Regional Comptroller audit; US$ conversion by Armando.info of Bs. 747,766,208.14)$343m
Window: 1999–2009
Same, including amounts approved in 2009–2012 (Armando.info)$385m
Not additional to the line above.
Clean-up cost stated by a basin authority official in April 2006, over six years$70m
Window: 2006
A planned figure.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Pao-Cachinche transfer and Caribbean transfer—
No cost figure is on record.
Currency: USD · Window: Mixed — see each line. Figures cover different periods and are not compared as a ratio. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • venezuela-environment-ministry (November 2006): In a November 2006 report to the Constitutional Chamber the Ministry said the works carried out 'are beginning to show results', the lake level 'has begun to descend' and levels below 410 m were expected 'with a probability of 90%', and proposed relocating the families of 256 La Punta homes and 786 Mata Redonda homes. · Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional (via vLex Venezuela)

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2007OngoingVEB 36.64bn economic value determined for 134 La Punta homes (bolívares before the 2008 redenomination)
    Amparo by La Punta and Mata Redonda residents v. Ministry of the Environment (Exp. 00-1362)
    Supreme Tribunal of Justice, Constitutional Chamber · Administrative · Residents of La Punta and Mata Redonda → Ministry of the Environment (Autoridad Única de Área para la Cuenca del Lago de Valencia)

    Ruling 1632 of 11 August 2006 ordered the residents' eviction 'prior restoration of the economic value of each of the homes' so that all affected persons could obtain a standard of living and housing similar to before, and urged all public bodies to continue the clean-up and level-control plans with the greatest priority and diligence possible. Ruling 1752 of 13 August 2007 dealt with execution: it appointed Civil Protection to identify affected residents and value the damage, declared the non-transfer conditions in the compensation contracts void and ordered notification of the Ombudsman. The value of 122 further La Punta homes and 730 Mata Redonda homes was pending. A third ruling in 2015 ordered execution and payment of amounts pending from a 2011 settlement; execution sits with a Maracay court and owners were not compensated as of 2017. Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional (via vLex Venezuela)

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Level rise
About 12.5 m
1978–2023, Colegio de Ingenieros de Carabobo; unofficial figure
Wastewater received
360 million m³ a year
Armando.info, 2017
Families at risk
8,000
Seven South Maracay areas, 2017
Treatment plants built
3 of 17
1995–1997; Los Guayos and La Mariposa later stopped

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Court ruling existsDisplacement reported

Nature

  • Disputed Lake level compared with the 2006 expectation
  • Disputed Transfer of lake water to the Pao-Cachinche reservoir

Money

  • None on record Pao-Cachinche transfer and Caribbean transfer — No cost figure is on record.

Accounts

Record

  • None on record None on record: an official current lake level; the 2023 figure of about 414 m was described as not official.
  • None on record None on record: an environmental impact study for the 2007 transfers of lake water to Pao-Cachinche, according to an NGO submission.
  • None on record None on record: execution of 14 of the 17 planned treatment plants and of the 2005 clean-up project due in 2009, according to Armando.info.
  • None on record None on record: a prosecution or ruling following the 2011 NGO submission, which cited article 28 of the Ley Penal del Ambiente in connection with the 2007 transfers.
  • Disputed Disputed: the effect of the transfer to Pao-Cachinche; the government presented it as level control, the NGOs as contamination of a drinking-water source.
  • Disputed Figures differ: the transfer flow is given as 5,000 l/s capacity in the NGO submission and as 5,600 l/s for the La Mariposa design in Armando.info.
  • Disputed Figures differ: the Ministry expected levels below 410 m 'with a probability of 90%' in 2006, while recorded levels rose to 413.43 m in 2012 and about 414 m in 2017–2023.
  • Unclear Unclear: the cost and amount paid for the Paraparal wall built by PDVSA in 2013 and left unfinished; no amount is given.

Did the harm stop?

The level kept rising: 408 m in 1999, 413.43 m in 2012, 414.10 m in 2017 and about 414 m (unofficial) in 2023, against a security level of 408 m.

Who paid?

Public spending on clean-up and level control was Bs. 747,766,208.14 in 1999–2009. Owners of 101 homes were compensated in 2005; in 2017, 512 of 1,043 La Punta and Mata Redonda owners were still awaiting compensation.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators✓ Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

Government and regulators

  1. Lake Valencia, Venezuela
    NASA Earth Observatory · 2004-11-22

Courts

  1. Ruling no. 1752, Exp. 00-1362 (La Punta / Mata Redonda), quoting ruling 1632 of 11 August 2006
    Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Sala Constitucional (via vLex Venezuela) · 2007-08-13

Press and investigations

  1. A Giant Septic Tank is Swallowing Maracay and Valencia
    Armando.info (Patricia Marcano) · 2017-09-17

Communities and civil society

  1. Informe para la ONU, Examen Periódico Universal (Report to the UN, Universal Periodic Review), 12th session
    Movimiento por la Calidad del Agua and others (hosted by PROVEA) · 2011-10

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Institutions

IDB
The Inter-American Development Bank.

Science and environment

Groundwater
Water held underground in soil and rock, drawn through wells.
Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.
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