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Living with water pollution in Guatemala

Marita Moloney
BBC News

The first UN water summit in almost 50 years is taking place this week in New York City, where thousands of delegates will meet to discuss a looming global water crisis caused by overconsumption and overdevelopment.

Reuters news agency sent a photographer to the Las Vacas river in the Chinautla municipality outside Guatemala City on Tuesday to record the impact that pollution is having on one waterway.

Reuters A general view of waste from Guatemala's largest landfill on the Las Vacas river basinReuters
Reuters Men search for scrap metal in the polluted waters of the Las Vacas riverReuters
People collect scrap metal from the polluted river, which is straddled by Guatemala's largest landfill
Reuters A man poses for a portrait after working in the polluted waters of the Las Vacas riverReuters
This man, known as "Canche", is one of these informal workers
Reuters A man searches for scrap metal in the polluted waters of the Las Vacas riverReuters
According to one non-profit group, The Ocean Cleanup, about 20,000 tonnes of rubbish are carried by the Las Vacas river each year
Reuters A cow and her calves cross the polluted waters of the Las Vacas riverReuters
And it's not just humans that can be spotted in the rubbish-clogged waters, as seen here as a cow and her calves cross the river
Reuters Two boys cross the polluted waters of the Las Vacas riverReuters
Abner, 12, and Anderson, 9, were also pictured wading through the murky waters
Reuters A man searches for scrap metal in the polluted waters of the Las Vacas riverReuters
Las Vacas is a tributary of the Rio Motagua, the largest river in Guatemala which flows into the Caribbean Sea
Reuters A general view of an illegal dump on the banks of the Las Vacas riverReuters
Last year, the Ocean Cleanup installed a steel-mesh screen on the river to try and stop the plastics before they reach the Caribbean

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