Is Lake Titicaca really as dirty as it sounds?
Titicaca is just as dirty as it sounds Default Titicaca is just as dirty as it sounds – 08-04-2007, 04:01 PM Sad Quote: COHANA, Bolivia (AFP) – Nestled high in the Bolivian Andes, the famed Lake Titicaca is being strangled by city-fed pollution that is driving away local people who draw sustenance from its mythical waters. At a breathtaking 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) above sea level, at Titicaca’s Cohana Bay, the Katari, Seco, Seque, Pallina and Jalaqueri rivers deposit the garbage and contaminants they pick up from cities along their banks. On the shores of the bay sits Cohana, a small village of 350 families whose livelihood — and water supply — is suffering under the pollution onslaught. Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake, which straddles the border between Bolivia and Peru, is a place venerated by the ancient Incans who ruled throughout South America from the 13th to the mid-16th centuries. Tradition has it that the lake was created during a great flood, brought on by A
Lake Titicaca, known as the world’s highest navigable lake (and most snicker-worthy place name) is, apparently, full of “caca”. Peru’s Environment Ministry reports that over 12 million cubic meters of raw sewage are dumped into Lake Titicaca every year. Since Titicaca is one of Peru’s most valuable tourist destinations and one of the “new” seven wonders of the world, this is big news. According to the country’s Environment Ministry, the source of the pollution is the city of Puno, population 100,000 plus. Apparently, Puno produces 100 metric tons of solid waste every day, which ends ends up in Titicaca, as does more than 70 percent of the city’s untreated liquid waste, which comes from homes, runoff from hospitals, factories, tanneries and slaughterhouses.This toxic sludge is full of methane, which is cited as a major contributor to global warming. “Without sewage treatment facilities, this lake is doomed,” a spokesman for Peru’s Environment Ministry told reporters. But sewage treatmen
