Over-consumption and drought reduce lake in vital Spanish wetland to puddle

Experts and environmentalists say aquifer feeding Donana national park, a Unesco heritage site, has been overexploited for tourism and to water fruit farms

The largest permanent lake in Spain's Donana national park, one of Europe's biggest and most important wetlands, has shrivelled to a small puddle as years of drought and overexploitation take their toll on the aquifer that feeds the area and sustains millions of migrating birds.

On Monday, experts from Spain's National Research Council (CSIC) said the Santa Olalla lake, which sits in a Unesco world heritage site, had dried up for the third time in 50 years.