By Aurora Lane | 2025-02-06

LA PAZ -- A month has passed since the Bolivian municipality of Tipuani experienced its worst flooding in living memory. While heavy rains and overflowing rivers were once common, the arrival of Chinese mining companies has worsened the situation, leaving about 150 houses still underwater.

"We are still flooded," Tipuani Mayor Fernando Vera Chambi told Entorno, attributing much of the disaster to cooperatives and foreign mining companies operating in the region, one of Bolivia's largest gold hubs.

"The impact of mining is undeniable. These are Chinese companies, but there are also domestic investors," he added.

Tipuani, situated where mountains transition to Amazon rainforest in northern La Paz, has long been a mining hub.

However, weak state oversight allows companies and cooperatives to abandon sites after extracting all possible profit. They leave behind vast pits filled with contaminated water.

During the rainy season, these pits overflow and send torrents of water into urban areas. This year, the consequences were devastating -- 250 families were affected and 150 houses flooded, according to residents.

Residents initially built a protective wall against the Tipuani River's overflow, Claudia Pérez, executive of the Federation of Intercultural Communities of Tipuani and a victim of the flooding, told Entorno.

However, the real threat was not the river -- it was the massive water-filled pits left behind by mining operations.

"The biggest problem is the abandoned pools left by cooperatives and mining companies. We've called for regulation, but they took advantage of the community's goodwill, extracting resources and leaving without any social responsibility -- without considering the disaster their actions would cause," Pérez said.

Mining waste crisis

Another affected resident, Julieta Díaz, accused Chinese miners of engaging in irresponsible practices.

"The Chinese companies come, dig and wash the soil to extract gold. Every 15 days, they wash and calculate how much gold they've obtained," Díaz said.

These companies abandon the pits once they have extracted all the gold, she said.

"They dig massive holes, and when there's no more gold, they just leave them behind -- giant pools filled with chemical-laden water," she told Entorno.

Heavy rains have battered the region since late December, but the crisis escalated on January 6 when the Tipuani River swelled by more than six meters -- a rise in level largely blamed on mining waste dumped into the waterway.

"The biggest problem is the accumulation of sand and sediment in our river. Since 2021, the riverbed has risen by approximately six and a half meters, severely impacting the surrounding communities," said Chambi, the mayor.

Mining companies dispose of sand and debris directly into the river, which can lead to dangerous sediment buildup, he said.

Destabilizing ecological balance

The floods not only devastated Tipuani but affected nearby towns like Quime and Guanay.

While heavy rains played a role, mining activity significantly altered the natural course of rivers and exacerbated the disaster.

Both legal and illegal gold mining operations have diverted tributaries to expand their activities, contributing to river overflows and widespread flooding, Alfredo Zaconeta, a researcher at the Center for Labor and Agrarian Development (CEDLA), explained.

"As mining sites are depleted, operations migrate -- first by deforesting to establish new sites, then by diverting riverbeds to continue excavation," Zaconeta told Entorno.

Beyond deforestation and ecosystem destruction, mining has contaminated local water sources with mercury and fuel.

These disruptions to natural geography have disrupted the ecological balance, making extreme floods more frequent and severe, Zaconeta said.