Llama Dung, a Possible Water Supply Decontamanent

In La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia, the main water supply is being polluted by water seeping from abandoned mines in the Andes Mountain Range. Mine water is dangerous to the environment because it is rich in sulfate and heavy metals (iron and aluminum). As the polluted mine water flows through creeks and streams, algae is smothered with a health hazardous coating that makes it up the food chain through fish and small water animals. In addition, metal particles coat the fish gills and kill fish.

A research team is working with a low-cost development to neutralize the acidic, metal-rich water through an organic filter that uses llama droppings as the decontaminant. Llama excrement was used treat dangerous mine run-off that pollutes a Bolivian alpine lake. The low-tech system utilizes manure microbes to neutralize the acidic water. The process removes most of the dissolved metals. This was tested in the UK with horse and cow dung previous.

Today, the area's mining industry in the region is quite extinct but the trail of abandoned mines still carries the burden of polluted mine run-off water. In these areas, "dead zones" were created in pools of mine. In the UK, the researchers developed a water way system containing cow and horse manure. As the mine water flowed through the organic filter, the acidity neutralized from a vinegar equivalent to drinking water.

Clean Water Supply