Lake Letsie

Coordinates: 30°18′35″S 28°09′55″E / 30.30972°S 28.16528°E / -30.30972; 28.16528
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lake Letsie
Letšeng-la-Letsie (Sotho)
Lake and dam surrounded by green hills
South shore view, from east of the dam
Lake Letsie is located in Lesotho
Lake Letsie
Lake Letsie
LocationQuthing District, Lesotho
Coordinates30°18′35″S 28°09′55″E / 30.30972°S 28.16528°E / -30.30972; 28.16528
TypeReservoir
EtymologyLetsie II Lerotholi
River sourcesMohlakeng River
Catchment area413.9 km2 (159.8 sq mi)
Basin countriesLesotho
Built1968 (1968)
Surface area38 hectares (94 acres)
Average depth1 metre (3 ft)
Surface elevation2,400 metres (7,900 ft)
Official nameLets'eng-la-Letsie
Designated1 July 2004
Reference no.1388[1]

Lake Letsie (Sotho: Letšeng-la-Letsie) is a reservoir in the Drakensberg mountains in Quthing District, Lesotho. The reservoir was formed when a smaller, natural lake was enlarged by damming the source of the Mohlakeng River in 1968. The lake and the wetlands surrounding the shore have been designated as a national protected area since 2001 and a Ramsar site since 2004.

Features

Lake Letsie is an enlarged natural

mean sea level.[3]
: 7 

Flora and fauna

Lake Letsie forms the core of a highland

thatch, wood, and medicinal plants.[1] Dominant plant species include Cotula paludosa, Eragrostis caesia, Haplocarpha nervosa, and Trifolium burchellianum.[4] The entire catchment area is above the tree line and has no tree cover.[3]
: 7 

The lake and wetland serve as a stopover point for

Maluti river frog.[3]
: 6–7 

Conservation

Sediment cores from the lake bed show low but rising levels of air pollutants such as

fly ash, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and polychlorinated biphenyls since the 1970s, likely because of coal-fired power stations and industrial activity in the neighboring Highveld region of South Africa.[3]: 2 [5] The wetlands around the lake and its catchment area are experiencing erosion related to overstocking and overgrazing,[6] in part because the site is treated as common land open to free use for private economic exploitation.[1]

The national government declared the lake and its catchment area a protected area in 2001, as part of the Conserving Mountain Biodiversity in Southern Lesotho project, and outlawed private use of the land, announcing plans to enclose the area and develop tourism facilities.[1] These proposals have met with resistance from local communities, and no such developments have yet been made.[7] On 1 July 2004 a 434-hectare (1,070-acre) protected area including the lake and its upstream wetlands was designated Lesotho's first and only Ramsar site.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Lets'eng-la-Letsie". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  2. ^ Raik, Kestrel (2021). "Lesotho's Lake Letsie and Aulacoseira granulata". International Society for Diatom Research. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  3. ^
    S2CID 219465550
    .
  4. S2CID 237729141
    .
  5. S2CID 234526232
    .
  6. S2CID 232105725
    .
  7. ^ "Tug of war over Letšeng-la-Letsie". Lesotho Times. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_Letsie&oldid=1176816955"