Bolivia's Lake Titicaca strangled by pollution

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2007

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...