In March 2017 the lake was almost completely dry, mainly due to the artificial diversion of water from the Senguerr River and, to a lesser extent, to the drought that has been raging since 2000.

[1] As the lake suffers the absence of liquid due to the great droughts, it leaves its bottom uncovered; then the winds form dunes that further erode the environment.

The San Bernardo mountain range separates it from the neighbouring Lake Musters and the entire area around it is riddled with hills of low and high altitudes.

It runs in a straight line from north to south for about 20 kilometres and rises 500 metres above sea level at its highest point and is the most prominent coastal feature in sight from all sides.

Carlos Ameghino, who was travelling through Chubut and Patagonia in search of fossil bones for his brother Florentino, mentioned to the latter in a letter that he had obtained from the Tehuelche Indians, some precious data about the famous lemisch.

In an essay on Sarmiento's colony in the 1968 Cuadernos de Historia del Chubut he states:"This lake presented an unknown, because of which it was always surrounded by mystery.

[14] The production was such that the estancia was able to produce cheese for sale in the now extinct Parada km 162 [es], a former railway station town located in the southeast of the Sarmiento valley.

Being shallow (an average of two metres during the studies), the wind caused the soil to be stirred up, so the water had more nutrients, which in turn generated a large amount of zooplankton of a significant size (among the largest of the Argentinean lakes).

Nowadays, the prolonged drought has ruined all the production in the area and closed many of the estancias and boliches that catered to travellers along the route that runs along part of the lake shore.

After travelling 350 km from these mountain slopes through the central plateau of the province of Chubut, this river brings an average annual flow of 54 m3/s to the entire lower Sarmiento basin.

Upon entering this alluvial and eolian plain, the Senguerr subdivides into numerous secondary branches (generally dry) in the form of a fan that runs northeastward.

This branch of the river that connects both lakes has been called "Falso Senguerr [es]", and its meandering course passes to the north of the town of Sarmiento (Chubut).

However, maps from the late 19th and early 20th centuries clearly show the channels of the Zanjón del Cerro Negro and a kind of delta that drained into the central western shore of the Colhué Huapi, which was obstructed by National Route 26.

[19] Lake Colhué Huapi has extensive shoreline mudflats, mainly along the entire range of channels and inlets provided by the Falso Senguerr River.

In spite of the extreme turbidity of its waters, the Colhué Huapi has an abundant aquatic fauna composed mainly of perch (Percichthys trucha) and Patagonian silverside (Odontesthes microlepidotus).

Likewise, this unique environment is of special interest from the point of view of biodiversity conservation, due to the presence of three autochthonous species of fish, the first two in danger of extinction: the toad catfish (Diplomystres viedmensis mesembrinus), the puyén (Galaxias platei), and the large-mouthed perch (Percichthys colhuehuapensis).

[18] Due to its large surface area and shallow depth, Lake Colhué Huapi is naturally subject to a severe evaporation process, both by wind and solar radiation.

All this aggravated the already compromised hydrological balance of the system to the limits of quasi-collapse in the Colhué Huapi, in which there is an increasing decrease of its historical levels, and an accelerated process of retraction and drying up in its periphery.

[7] The lake began its slow drought since the Falso Senguerr, its main source of nourishment, was severely touched by human hand in recent years, despite its important role as a supplier of water to the Colhué Huapi.

Since 12 May 2013, the intense clouds of dust that rise from the lake, pass through the agglomeration of Comodoro Rivadavia and culminate in the San Jorge Gulf have attracted the attention of NASA.

The senator explained that the water deficit is partly due to natural characteristics that cause the evaporation process by wind action or solar radiation.

It is necessary to recognise human responsibility and be aware of the negative consequences of the irrational use of water, contributing to the fact that the conditions of the lakes are becoming increasingly extreme, putting at risk the survival of the different species of native flora and fauna, threatening not only the regional economies, but also the health and quality of life of their inhabitants.

[30] Faced with the prospect of the imminent disappearance of the lake, the residents of Sarmiento, alarmed by the falling water level, gathered in marches and demanded measures.

Dust storms are caused by strong northwesterly winds that routinely blow across the eastern side of the Andes Mountains and whip across the central Patagonian desert.

NASA claimed through its studies that the winds can carry dust from Colhué Huapi as far east as Antarctica, where it could have consequences for the speed at which snow and ice melt.

In addition, the claim that the sediment is beneficial to phytoplankton was continued,[34] and the intensity of the phenomenon in the region prompted studies based on satellite and surface meteorological data from the last five decades.

[36] Also, in the same year, Civil Defence warned that the lack of water in Lake Colhué Huapi causes the flying dust to be dangerous to health.

In January 2023 it was learned that the Minister of Hydrocarbons, Martin Cerdá, stated that the provincial government was working on a tender for the area comprising the missing lake.

The area began to be studied in 2012 in an exploratory project initiated by the companies Petrominera Chubut and Petroquímica Comodoro Rivadavia [es], with an investment at that time in the order of 70 million dollars.

The movement held a public meeting in Sarmiento's San Martín square, awareness-raising actions, and other protest activities, such as a music festival planned for early February.