Population boom threatens Lake Titicaca on border of Peru and Bolivia

Q: South America's most famous lake - Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia - is being polluted by increasing levels of waste from fast-growing cities, according to locals, environmentalists and politicians. Where are Peru and Bolivia on this map?

Circle the area on this map


Q: The nearby city of El Alto has grown at 4 percent a year for two decades as rural peasants seek a better life. El Alto is part of a metropolitan area that includes Bolivia's administrative or "de facto" capital of . . .

A. La Paz

B. Lima

C. Los Angeles

D. Santa Cruz

Q: Raw sewage, garbage and industrial waste from El Alto dump into the Seco River, which flows into Lake Titicaca. For thousands of years, the lake has supported agriculture on the dry, high-altitude plains of which mountain range?

A. Alps

B. Andes

C. Apennines

D. Appalachians

Q: At 2,500 feet above sea level, Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world, and it is the largest lake in South America by volume of water. On the Peruvian shore, thousands of protesters said a planned silver mine could pollute the lake. What toxic substance is used in sliver mining?

A. Ammonia

B. Bauxite

C. Cyanide

D. Detergent

Q: According to an ancient creation myth, the children of the Sun emerged from the depths of Lake Titicaca to found an empire that ruled over Peru and large areas of modern Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina. What was name of this empire later conquered by the Spanish?

A. Aztec

B. Inca

C. Mayan

D. Mongol


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