It took nearly 500 years, but Bolivia appears to be serious about addressing its widespread mining contamination. South America’s poorest country has launched several initiatives to clean up rivers containing mining waste, particularly the upper Pilcomayo River, which environmentalists say is easily one of the world’s most polluted rivers. In the upper Pilcomayo, concentrations of heavy-metal contaminants such as arsenic, cadmium, iron and zinc are 1,000 times Bolivia’s legal limit and 5,000 times the maximum level established by the World Health Organization, according to studies conducted here for the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. The Pilcomayo flows from the legendary Cerro Rico, or “Rich Hill,” silver mines at Potosí to the junction of the Bolivian, Argentine and Paraguayan borders, then follows the Argentine-Paraguayan border... [Log in to read more]
