Lake Maracaibo
Zulia, Venezuela · 9.80°, -71.50° · Fossil fuels
Thousands of kilometres of ageing oil pipelines leak into one of South America's largest lakes, which also blooms green with algae.
Lake Maracaibo has been an oil field since the 1910s, with wells and pipelines crisscrossing its bed. As Venezuela's industry decayed, leaks became chronic, coating shores and fishing boats in crude. Sewage and farm runoff feed algal blooms and once a vast carpet of duckweed. Fishing communities around the lake live with both.
In the game
Lake Maracaibo flares up as Polluted water. The fix is a gesture: drag through the floating waste to sweep it up. Done right, it becomes Water cleaned ♻️. Finish all three steps of its chain in one round for a combo, or take your time in Explore mode: a place you fully restore stays green on your map for good.
🧭 Fly there and restore it▶ Play a 60-second round