Stock Photo - 07 April 2021, Bolivia, Oruro: Dogs walk among garbage at Lake Uru Uru. According to the environmental agency of the government of Oruro, the lake is polluted on 15 hectares with an estimated 30,000 tons of waste. ""The sewer system for rainwater is being used illegally for sewage,"" explains Sara Diaz of the environmental agency. Most of the waste covering Lake Uru Uru is plastic bottles. ""People who travel through this region throw the bottles through their car windows,"" she adds. The Center for the Environment and Andean Peoples (CEPA) also points to a more pervasive problem: ""Some of the acid mine water from the San Jose mine ends up directly in the lake,"" the non-governmental organization's latest report says. Among other things, cadmium, arsenic oxide and lead have been detected above the limit at the lake, it says. The government and civic organizations have regularly called for cleanup efforts at the lake for years, ""but the acidic mine water is not sufficiently treated,"" CEPA said. The concern is heightened by the fact that the lake has shrunk from 200 to 30 square kilometres due to the current drought, laments CEPA's Limbert Sanchez. Photo: Radoslaw Czajkowski/dpa. - Oruro/Bolivia