"A Bolivian lake that was once an oasis of natural beauty full of thriving wildlife has become a waterless basin full of plastic waste. Lake Uru Uru in western Bolivia is covered in mountains of rubbish including plastic bottles and other man-made garbage for as far as the eye can see. The piles of rubbish are believed to have come from the nearby city of Oruro via the Roso Canal, where residents dump their waste. The lake's water is tinged black and brown because heavy metals such as cadmium, zinc, and arsenic have leached from nearby mines into the reservoir. Limber Sanchez, an ecologist with the regional Ecological Centre and Andean People (CEPA), said materials leached from the San Jose Mine had destroyed the purity of the water. He said: 'Alongside the plastic is also the impact the acidic water from mining that has come from the San Jose Mine that almost 365 days of the year empties directly into our Lake Uru Uru.' Sanchez said Uru Uru was hit with a deadly combination of urban contamination, mining contamination, and climate change, which as caused the lake to shrink."
12 April 2021
Unutterably sad
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And yet no one is held responsible.
ReplyDeleteThe Old Forge Borehole in Lackawana Co.,PA discharges 86,800 gals. of acid mine drainage into ultimately the Chesapeake Bay every minute of every day since 1961. This is not the only source just the largest. Every abandoned mine in every state discharges some acid runoff. The fortunes were made, the problems were left to us. This is why corporate influence must be removed from the regulatory process. Money = influence.
ReplyDeleteNew to me, so I searched for info and found this:
Deletehttps://www.citizensvoice.com/news/old-forge-duryea-boreholes-offer-intrigue-and-concern-for-state-local-leaders/article_d5e2225e-30bb-57f8-94a1-1b9a5984db95.html
What type of people are opposed to fixing this problem?
The obscenely rich, the greedy, the ignorant, the. . . . The Old Forge Borehole is the poster child for Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). Contaminated water will find its way to the sea. Those mines not flooding basements are still leaking AMD into rivers. The damage is done, Where gravity is the irresistible force of AMD, population drives mineral extraction and all mining produces AMD. "We have met the enemy and he is us." This will not end well unless the aliens who colonized Earth come back and rescue us. Naah! We've proven ourselves too stupid and greedy. I'm too old to see this play out but god I wish I could be the proverbial fly on the wall. Thanks for doing this.
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