The Inca once considered Lake Titicaca the birthplace of mankind. The 3,200 square mile lake sits on the border of Peru and Bolivia. These waters support thousands of indigenous farmers and fishermen. But as cities in Titicaca's watershed experience a sharp increase in population, water contamination from growing urbanization becomes greater, endangering the lake and those who depend on it. The rapidly growing city of El Alto, Bolivia, is home to more than 1 million people, mostly low-income Aymara Indians from the countryside who migrate, seeking employment and education. As unplanned neighborhoods spread outward, the largest city in the Titicaca watershed struggles to provide basic services. About 80 percent of homes in El Alto have access to potable water, but just 50 percent of its businesses and homes are connected to sewers that lead to the city's one wastewater treatment plant. The rest of the wastewater is piped directly into rivers, increasing health risks in a country of 10 million where around 30,000 children die each year from diarrhea due in part to inadequate sewers and sanitation. Improving sewage treatment is often pushed aside due to inadequate budgets, says El Alto Mayor Edgar Pataña Ticona, and environmental laws are rarely enforced. “We have rules. They aren’t very strong, but we have them,” Mr. Pataña says. A 2011 United Nations report found “alarming” concentrations of cadmium, arsenic, and lead in various parts of the lake. People downstream from El Alto say their attempts to fight back have not yielded major change. In 2004 the Bolivian government passed a law declaring the Pallina River, one in a string of rivers that connects El Alto to the lake, an environmental disaster zone. But little action followed the passage of the law, so locals blocked a key highway leading toward the Bolivian capital of La Paz. The roadblock raised national awareness of the river at the time, but years later the water of the Pallina still runs dark and foamy. Mr. Rios Miranda, like many farmers, is digging wells on his property after deciding livestock should no longer drink from the river. Another economic blow for people along the Pallina is that they can no longer process tunta, a dried potato that was washed in the river water and sold for relatively high prices. Despite all the pollutants El Alto sends toward Lake Titicaca, it is not the only source of contamination. Rivers winding toward the lake pass smaller towns that contribute human and industrial waste, and some gold mining operations in Peru use a smelting process which releases mercury into the water. Livestock grazing along the shore loads the lake with organic waste, as well. This can fuel explosive aquatic plant growth, sucking up oxygen and cutting off sunlight other plants and animals need to survive. Tourism is yet another concern: a double-edged sword that brings better income to the impoverished region, but also environmental challenges. The Peruvian city of Puno and Copacabana in Bolivia receive tens of thousands of national and international visitors each year.
It appears that the majority of pollution issues that are reported on focus on North America, Europe and Asia. Very few have even mentioned other continents like South America, Africa and Australia. But these continents are full of polluting people and industry’s just like the rest of the world. Just because these places are reported on less, their pollution issues and the impacts of them are just as great as places like China, India and America. The impact’s of Lake Titicaca’s pollution problem can be felt by people living all around the lake, people down from the lake and people all over the world. Probably some of the people to be affected most are the lower class farmers that depend on the lake for survival. They now have the added cost and labor of having to dig their own wells to supply fresh water for their cattle. If the waters continue to be polluted, all the farmers who once depended on Lake Titicaca for their livelihood will no longer be able to sustain a viable operation due to contaminated resources. That would displace a lot of people living in the country and force them into the local cities further adding to the burdens of cities like El Alto, Bolivia are experiencing. The cities are already behind on many of their basic services. Adding more people would put them even farther behind. This will eventually lead to more wastewater being piped directly into the rivers. Thus exacerbating the entire issue. Not only will the environment be destroyed but many more people will get sick or die from inadequate sewers and sanitation. This would add more stress to these families that are already dealing with so much. They can’t afford to leave their homes and find better work and better conditions elsewhere. The people of these regions have tried to stand up to the state and demand action be taken but due to their class they cannot put in the effort and financial capital required for change to happen. They were successful with getting their message out due to the roadblock but in the end no action was taken. The pollution levels have already gotten the attention of the UN. Maybe with the added pressure of a world organization keeping an eye on things, pressure will be put on the local governments to clean things up. They might be able to suppress their people but they won’t be able to suppress the UN. In the end all their pollution gets added to the overall global pollution and it has an affect on us all.
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