Urban population boom threatens Lake Titicaca

Titicaca Lake, the South American most famous lake, ubicated on the border of Bolivia and Peru, is being polluted by increasing leves of waste from fast-growning cities.

This area has sustained agricultural societies on the dry, high-altitude Andean plains for thousands of years, but is now threatened by a population boom from nearby cities and towns.

If migration sometimes is a positive phenomenon, today isn’t, because this migratiom has had dangerous effects on the rivers of El Alto, place that there are communities.

There`s a lot of pollution like Raw sewage, garbage and industrial waste, that are all dumped into the Seco River, which flows through the heart of El Alto.

El Alto is a political powerhouse, althoguh the big poverty and limited access to services. So the population always had problems to have a better life style. In addition to it, El Alto's budget depends on Bolivia's central government, and collects little from local taxes. A constantly expanding network brings drinking water to about 80% of the city's homes. But the construction of a new plant to treat more wastewater is, at best, years away.

El Alto’s mayor, Edgar Ticona, is trying to do that some people respect the environmental laws, but he said that it’s a difficult work. 

So, we can see that Bolivia, and specially Titicaca Lake is an a huge problem. The most dangerous is to think this difficult can affect people's live and health, without mention about the ambiental damage.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/12/urban-population-boom-lake-titicaca