Our arteries can clog. Our brains can gunk up with plaque, and we can get Alzheimer's.

It happens because we have jammed so much into the base of the natural ocean pyramid that these bacteria clog it up and overfill onto our beaches.

The result has been to encourage liars to clog the system with disinformation and false leads while discouraging honest people from reporting what they observe, lest an innocent neighbor be incarcerated on the basis of misperceptions.

Their relatively isolated location on islands has aided their preservation, but as the menacing water hyacinth threatens to clog the entire lake, their survival is at stake as well as the livelihoods of all who live near and depend on Lake Tana as a natural resource.