Bolivia’s ‘Water People’ Face Uncertain Future With Loss Of Major Lifeline

Aerial view of a muddy plain at the site of former Lake Poopo, near Punaca Tinta Maria, Bolivia, taken on October 15, 2022. - Lake Poopo, once Bolivia's second-largest, has largely disappeared, taking with it a centuries-old culture reliant entirely on its bounty. PHOTO BY MARTIN SILVA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Bolivia’s Lake Poopo was once a fountain of life for local inhabitants, but now due to a confluence of factors, it is a desert with abandoned boats lying on cracked ground. For Indigenous communities who farmed along its banks and fished from the waters for more than a century, life has been completely upended.

Located in the high-altitude altiplano area of southwestern Bolivia, Lake Poopo sat at an altitude of 12,000 feet above sea level. In 1986, the lake was at its peak, spanning nearly 1,350 square miles, making it larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.