Photos: La Paz’s sewage returns to Bolivian capital as produce
Updated On Dec 16, 2018 03:33 PM IST
What gets flushed down in Bolivia's capital city is used to irrigate the green, leafy fields that supply its produce markets. The untreated fetid waters from households and factories flow into the Choqueyapu, Cotahuma and Orkohauira rivers that run from La Paz to the city's southern agricultural hub. The sewage returns in the form of the city’s food, most of the produce arriving in the early mornings at the markets in La Paz is often contaminated.
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Updated on Dec 16, 2018 03:33 PM IST
Women farmers plant radishes in a field that gets irrigated with sewage water that comes from the nearby river in Valencia, Bolivia. For farmer Richard Mamani it’s part of a family tradition. Like his parents before him, he uses water from untreated sewage to tend to vegetables that are his livelihood in the town of Valencia south of La Paz. (Juan Karita / AP)
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Updated on Dec 16, 2018 03:33 PM IST
Mamani has had safe drinking water for some years, but he says it’s too expensive to use it on his fields. “We don’t use fertilizers and look,” he said, proudly pointing to corn and other vegetables. Still, he knows the risks of using the water, which sometimes billows up clouds of foamy pollutants in the farm fields. (Juan Karita / AP)
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Updated on Dec 16, 2018 03:33 PM IST
Men work in the polluted Choqueyapu River, covered by a white foam, in La Paz. Bolivia is one South America’s poorest countries and the world’s highest capital lacks a waste water treatment plant. The untreated fetid waters from households and factories flow into the Choqueyapu, Cotahuma and Orkohauira rivers that run from La Paz to the city’s southern agricultural hub. (Juan Karita / AP)
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Updated on Dec 16, 2018 03:33 PM IST
A woman carries forage for her cattle from a field irrigated with river water that carries untreated sewage. A 2013 environmental report by Bolivia’s comptroller general described them as in a “very bad quality range.” The Environment and Water Ministry says it hopes to change this with the construction of the city’s first water treatment plant. (Juan Karita / AP)
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A man pushes sacks of onions at a street market in La Paz, Bolivia. For now, most of the produce that arrives in the early mornings at the markets in La Paz is often contaminated. An audit by the comptroller general said that out of a sample, “12.5% of agricultural products were acceptable; 25% were mildly acceptable; and 62.5% were rejectable.” (Juan Karita / AP)
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A woman carries celery and parsley she just bought at a street market in La Paz, Bolivia. Some of the samples carry parasites, including E.coli. Symptoms of E. coli infection include diarrhea, severe stomach cramps and vomiting. (Juan Karita / AP)
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A farmer rests next to an irrigation channel that shoots off a river contaminated with sewage water, at a farm in Valencia. There are no specific studies available that point to the impact on the health of the population, but the National Institute for Health Laboratories says 70% of acute diarrhoeic illnesses are linked to eating contaminated food, including vegetables. (Juan Karita / AP)
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Updated on Dec 16, 2018 03:33 PM IST