Finally in 1851, as part of a campaign against malaria and to promote agricultural development, a long canal was built leading to the Riera de Santa Coloma —a tributary of the Tordera River— and the waters of the lake ebbed away.

Towards the last quarter of the 20th century, when cattle-rearing was on the wane in the region, the hayfields gave way to poplar and London plane plantations for commercial use.

These are partly a fruit of the effort of a 1998 project called "Life" under which some of the former hayfields are being restored by buying private land.

Among the herpetological fauna, the Mediterranean Painted Frog, the Palmate Newt, the European pond terrapin and the small snake Natrix maura deserve mention.

[5] The population of three-spined stickleback in the remaining water bodies of the ancient lake is the only presence of this species in the area of the Tordera basin.