The day we visited Tempe lake a storm brewed, providing us with an nice light for photographs. However for the inhabitants of the lake, the outlook continues to be stormy.

Lake Tempe in South Sulawesi was once called the “fish bowl of Indonesia“. Today, as a result of chronic sedimentation caused by erosion and water plants, fishing is drying up. The sediment piles on at a rate of five centimeters per year, causing the lake to shrink away in the dry season and overflow in the wet season.

Once the lake was 30,000 hectares in area and 10,000 meters deep. (There seems to be some dispute over the original depth of the lake, so lets say it was somewhat larger than today) Now, Tempe is never larger than 10,000 hectares and shrinks to 1,000 hectares with a maximum depth of two meters in the dry season.
The Wajo regency administration and several environmental organizations say the lake may remain only a memory in future years.
Nine rivers flow into the lake and sedimentation is attributed to upstream erosion. The condition is worsened by household waste and the rampant growth of water hyacinth.