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Cases / Tailings dam failure · Bolivia · 2009–2025

Huanuni sub-basin mining contamination in the Lake Poopó basin: emergency decrees, a 2022 constitutional ruling and an IACHR hearing

Nature's voice · report
In 2009 the annex to the Bolivian government's decree reported zinc and cadmium above permissible limits in my Huanuni river water and copper, zinc, arsenic, cadmium and lead above reference values in its sediment.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Accounts differ ↓
Recorded
Details not on record: 4 none on record · 1 not measured · 7 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Origin of the metals found at the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca
  • Government and regulators Ministry of Environment and Water and vice-minister Franz Álvaro Quispe (2024–2025, as reported): The government study classified the contamination as natural, not caused by human activity; no mining operation exists in the ayllu and the nearest is about 6 km away. Los Tiempos
  • Communities and civil society Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca and CENDA: The river carries metals downstream to the community from mining; a CENDA study of 20 residents found arsenic, lead and cadmium in blood and urine. Los Tiempos
  • Courts Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (2022): Provisional and preventive protection granted; the court wrote that low water quality in the Huanuni sub-basin was "ocasionada por la actividad minera" and that no current precise report on Puñaca's water existed. Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional (copy hosted by Noticias Fides)
Daily metal load reaching Lake Poopó
  • Communities and civil society Limbert Sánchez, CEPA Oruro (December 2015): More than 760 kg of arsenic, 46 kg of cadmium, 100 kg of copper, 119 kg of lead, 1,328 kg of zinc and 2 million kg of suspended solids a day. Correo del Sur
  • Press and investigations El Salto (June 2021), citing a study: Cadmium 39 kg, zinc 3,969 kg, arsenic 821 kg and lead 73 kg a day. El Salto

Mine and mill discharges into the Huanuni sub-basin, which drains toward Lake Poopó, led to a departmental emergency declaration in 2009 (Supreme Decree 335), a ruling by Bolivia's Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal in November 2022 ordering a water study for the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca, an IACHR hearing in July 2024 and a national emergency declaration in August 2025. The government classified the metals at Puñaca as natural in 2024; the community and the court's provisional reasoning link water quality to mining.

61.2%Share of the cadmium reaching Lake Poopó carried by the Huanuni river, per a 2012 source-apportionment study
Navarro Torres, Zamora Echenique and Singh (Journal of Mining and Environment, 2012); the study also gives Huanuni 34.3% of zinc and 2.23% of lead.

Status As of August 2025: Supreme Decree 5442 declared a national emergency for the Huanuni sub-basin; compliance with the 2022 constitutional ruling is disputed; no sanction against a mining operator is on record.

What?
Discharges from mines and mills into the Huanuni sub-basin, which drains toward Lake Poopó, declared a departmental emergency in 2009 and a national emergency in 2025; a constitutional ruling of 14 November 2022 ordered a water study for the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca. Lexivox (text of the Bolivian Supreme Decree)
Where?
Huanuni sub-basin (Huanuni or San Juan de Sora Sora river), Oruro department, and the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca in Poopó municipality; the rivers drain toward Lake Poopó. Lexivox (text of the Bolivian Supreme Decree)
When?
Emergency DS 335 of 21 October 2009; ruling SCP 1471/2022-S3 of 14 November 2022; IACHR hearing 8 July 2024; national emergency DS 5442 of 13 August 2025. Presidencia del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (copy on Pixilegal)
Who?
Gained
  • Empresa Minera Huanuni and other mining operations in the basin — Continued tin and metal production; the volumes and revenue are not stated in the sources reviewed (Santa Elena ingenio about 1,000 t of tin per day according to Mongabay Latam) Mongabay Latam
Lost
  • Farming and herding communities of the sub-basin — Mongabay Latam reported that Huanuni's river supplied farming for more than 50 communities and that community members say more than 500 families have migrated; community members report crop and livestock losses Mongabay Latam
Harmed
  • Lake Poopó basin waters and the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca — Zinc and cadmium above permissible limits in river water and five metals above reference values in river sediment (2009 decree annex); arsenic above the EU reference value in all 20 residents tested (September 2023, as reported); the origin of the metals at Puñaca is disputed Lexivox (text of the Bolivian Supreme Decree)
Why?
The 2009 decree records mining-caused damage; the government's 2024 study classified the metals at Puñaca as natural; the court's provisional reasoning links the sub-basin's low water quality to mining. Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional (copy hosted by Noticias Fides)
How?
Untreated tailings from ore concentration discharged into the Huanuni, Sora Sora and Machacamarca rivers (2009 decree annex); the Huanuni company built a tailings dam while, per the claimants' filing as summarised by the court, much of its discharge continued into the river. Lexivox (text of the Bolivian Supreme Decree)
6 of 6 questions (what, who, where, when, why, how) have an answer on record

What happened

The record, in order.

On 21 October 2009 Bolivia issued Supreme Decree 335, whose first article "tiene por objeto Declarar Situación de Emergencia de carácter Departamental" over risks to health and food security from contamination and soil salinisation in the Huanuni sub-basin, covering the municipalities of Huanuni, Machacamarca, El Choro and Poopó. Its considerations record environmental damage caused by mining, a cumulative-damage finding by the Civil Defence vice-ministry and CONARADE Resolution 04/09 of 12 August 2009. It assigned the Oruro Prefecture and the affected municipalities, with the Ministry of Mining and Metallurgy through COMIBOL, to promote studies and programmes of prevention, mitigation, rehabilitation and recovery, and let the planning and economy ministries seek external financing. The decree's annex reports tailings from ore concentration discharged untreated into the Huanuni, Sora Sora and Machacamarca rivers and, in a 2008 study cited in the annex, zinc and cadmium above permissible limits in the Huanuni river water and copper, zinc, arsenic, cadmium and lead above reference values in its sediment.

Studies and reports record the discharges. A Journal of Mining and Environment study (2012) of Lake Poopó's tributaries attributed to the Huanuni river 61.2% of the cadmium, 34.3% of the zinc and 2.23% of the lead reaching the lake, to the Antequera river 32.9% of the cadmium and 57% of the zinc, and to the Desaguadero 70% of the arsenic and 64% of the lead, and wrote that the Bolívar and Huanuni mines polluted the lake with cadmium and zinc through the Antequera and Huanuni rivers. Correo del Sur (December 2015) quoted the NGO CEPA's Limbert Sánchez on daily loads of more than 760 kg of arsenic, 46 kg of cadmium, 119 kg of lead and 1,328 kg of zinc from about 150 mining operations, and the governor of Oruro admitting that the lake receives waste pumped by the San José mine; El Salto (2021) cited a study giving 821 kg of arsenic, 39 kg of cadmium, 73 kg of lead and 3,969 kg of zinc a day. Mongabay Latam reported in March 2017 that the 2009 emergency required the state mining company to build a tailings dam by 2011, that it was unfinished in March 2017 with a new target of late July 2017, and quoted the Huanuni manager saying "Ahí se termina la contaminación." The EU-funded Programa Cuenca Poopó financed three smaller pilot tailings dams.

On 9 November 2021 comuneros of the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca, in Poopó municipality, filed a popular action in Oruro against the Vice-Minister of Mining Policy, the Oruro departmental environment secretary and the mayors of Poopó and Huanuni, alleging contamination of the water they use for people and livestock and that the DS 335 mandate had not been carried out. The Oruro court denied the protection on 1 December 2021. On 14 November 2022 the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (Third Chamber, SCP 1471/2022-S3) revoked that resolution and granted the protection in part: it ordered the Ministry of Environment and Water, in the first half of 2023 and with the Ministry of Health, the Oruro departmental government and the Poopó municipality, to plan with the ayllu's authorities and carry out a study of the water supplying the community, to establish whether it is fit for human consumption and agricultural use and its effect on health, and to take actions accordingly. It denied the protection against the Vice-Minister and on the right to territoriality. The court wrote that the claimants had not proved health effects beyond testimonies, that no current precise report on Puñaca's water existed, that a 30 November 2021 control report on Huanuni mine discharges found water analysis outside normal parameters and that there were sufficient indications that authorities had not carried out continuous action, the last measures being from 2019; it wrote that low water quality in the sub-basin was "ocasionada por la actividad minera".

Press and hearing records describe what followed. El Salto reported in June 2023 that the deadline for carrying out the ruling was running without the State reacting. On 8 July 2024 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights held a public hearing on mining contamination in the Poopó basin; its rapporteurs asked the State for short- and long-term plans with deadlines. Vice-minister Franz Álvaro Quispe told the hearing that the government gave "estricto cumplimiento a la sentencia constitucional", that its study classified the contamination as natural, that no mining operations exist in the ayllu and the nearest is about 6 km away, and that a health programme would apply in the second half of 2024. CENDA said a study of 20 residents found arsenic, lead and cadmium in blood and urine. Mongabay Latam (April 2025) reported the same tests as all 20 above the EU reference value for arsenic, cadmium detectable in two and lead in four. On 13 August 2025 Supreme Decree 5442 declared a national emergency for contamination "producto de la actividad minera y otras" in the Huanuni sub-basin, citing a second constitutional ruling (SCP 1582/2022-S2 of 14 December 2022) that ordered a government environmental audit, the Contraloría's audit report K2/AP24/O23-E1 of 22 October 2024 with seven recommendations and CONARADE Resolution 003/2025 of 12 March 2025; the decree text gives no amounts, deadlines or sanctions.

  1. 2009CONARADE Resolution 04/09 (12 August); Supreme Decree 335 declares a departmental emergency in the Huanuni sub-basin (21 October)
  2. 2012Journal of Mining and Environment study apportions metals reaching Lake Poopó by river
  3. 2015CEPA gives daily metal loads; governor admits the lake receives waste pumped by the San José mine (December)
  4. 2017Huanuni tailings dam, due in 2011 under the 2009 emergency, unfinished; new target end of July 2017 (Mongabay Latam, 6 March)
  5. 2021Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca files a popular action (9 November); Oruro court denies protection (1 December)
  6. 2022Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal grants protection in part in SCP 1471/2022-S3 (14 November)
  7. 2022SCP 1582/2022-S2 orders a government environmental audit (14 December), as cited in Supreme Decree 5442
  8. 2024IACHR public hearing on mining contamination in the Poopó basin (8 July)
  9. 2024Contraloría audit report K2/AP24/O23-E1 (22 October), as cited in Supreme Decree 5442
  10. 2025CONARADE Resolution 003/2025 (12 March); Supreme Decree 5442 declares a national emergency for the Huanuni sub-basin (13 August)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“tiene por objeto Declarar Situación de Emergencia de carácter Departamental”

“es viable otorgar la tutela provisional sobre los derechos al medio ambiente y al agua”

“estricto cumplimiento a la sentencia constitucional”

Franz Álvaro Quispe, vice-minister, to the IACHR hearing · 8 July 2024 · original in Spanish · Los Tiempos

“Ahí se termina la contaminación.”

Manager of the Huanuni mining company, on the planned tailings dam and treatment plant · 6 March 2017 · original in Spanish · Mongabay Latam

“Parece que el Estado quiere que desaparezcamos para que nomás haya minería acá.”

Abel Machaca, community member · 2 June 2023 · original in Spanish · El Salto

“Se declara Situación de Emergencia Nacional por contaminación ambiental, producto de la actividad minera y otras,”

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Origin of the metals found at the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca
Government and regulators
Ministry of Environment and Water and vice-minister Franz Álvaro Quispe (2024–2025, as reported)

The government study classified the contamination as natural, not caused by human activity; no mining operation exists in the ayllu and the nearest is about 6 km away.

Los Tiempos
Communities and civil society
Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca and CENDA

The river carries metals downstream to the community from mining; a CENDA study of 20 residents found arsenic, lead and cadmium in blood and urine.

Los Tiempos
Courts
Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (2022)

Provisional and preventive protection granted; the court wrote that low water quality in the Huanuni sub-basin was "ocasionada por la actividad minera" and that no current precise report on Puñaca's water existed.

Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional (copy hosted by Noticias Fides)
Compliance with SCP 1471/2022-S3
Government and regulators
Vice-minister Franz Álvaro Quispe (July 2024)

"estricto cumplimiento a la sentencia constitucional".

Los Tiempos
Communities and civil society
Lawyers and community members, as reported by El Salto (June 2023) and Mongabay Latam (April 2025)

In June 2023 the deadline for the ruling was running without the State reacting; in April 2025 the ruling had not been carried out.

El Salto
Daily metal load reaching Lake Poopó
Communities and civil society
Limbert Sánchez, CEPA Oruro (December 2015)

More than 760 kg of arsenic, 46 kg of cadmium, 100 kg of copper, 119 kg of lead, 1,328 kg of zinc and 2 million kg of suspended solids a day.

Correo del Sur
Press and investigations
El Salto (June 2021), citing a study

Cadmium 39 kg, zinc 3,969 kg, arsenic 821 kg and lead 73 kg a day.

El Salto
Number of mining operations in the basin
Researchers
Universidad Técnica de Oruro (2008), as reported by Mongabay Latam

At least 300 mining operations in the region.

Mongabay Latam
Communities and civil society
Limbert Sánchez, CEPA Oruro (2015)

About 150 mining operations in the basins.

Correo del Sur
Press and investigations
El Salto (2021)

Almost 400 mining concessions in the region.

El Salto

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The mining company's tailings dam and an acid-water treatment plant presented as ending the contamination.
    Manager of the Huanuni mining company, as reported by Mongabay Latam · Mongabay Latam
  • The metals found at the ayllu described as natural rather than caused by human activity, with the nearest mining operation about 6 km away.
    Bolivian government (vice-minister Franz Álvaro Quispe), at the IACHR hearing · Los Tiempos

Recorded

  • Supreme Decree 335 (2009) records environmental damage in the Huanuni sub-basin caused by mining; its annex reports zinc and cadmium above permissible limits in the Huanuni river water and copper, zinc, arsenic, cadmium and lead above reference values in its sediment.
    Lexivox (text of the Bolivian Supreme Decree)
  • SCP 1471/2022-S3 (14 November 2022) granted protection in part and ordered a study of the water supplying the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca; the court noted a 30 November 2021 control report found Huanuni mine discharge analysis outside normal parameters.
    Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional (copy hosted by Noticias Fides)
  • Puñaca residents' tests (September 2023, 20 people): all above the EU reference value for arsenic; cadmium detectable in 2 and lead in 4, as reported by Mongabay Latam.
    Mongabay Latam
  • Supreme Decree 5442 (13 August 2025) declared a national emergency; its text contains no amounts, deadlines or sanctions.
    Presidencia del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (copy on Pixilegal)
  • No source reviewed records a fine, sanction or criminal proceeding against a mining operator for discharges into the sub-basin.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: BOB · Window: 2009–2025. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • Empresa Minera Huanuni (6 March 2017): Its manager said in 2017 that all tailings would be piped to the planned dam, that a 3,000 t/day ingenio would start and an acid-water treatment plant was planned: "Ahí se termina la contaminación." · Mongabay Latam
  • Government of Bolivia (Ministry of Environment and Water; vice-minister Franz Álvaro Quispe) (8 July 2024): Told the IACHR hearing that it gave strict compliance to the constitutional ruling, that its study classified the contamination as natural, that no mining operations exist in the ayllu and that a health programme would apply in the second half of 2024. · Los Tiempos
  • Gobernación de Oruro (December 2015): Governor Vásquez admitted in December 2015 that the lake receives waste pumped by the San José mine and mentioned an acid-water treatment plant project. · Correo del Sur
  • Gobernación de Oruro (2014) (December 2014): Said after the November 2014 die-off that contamination existed but that it was not certain it was the cause. · eju.tv
  • Mining cooperatives named by CENDA (Llapa Llapani, Quellia): No statement of their own is recorded in the sources reviewed.

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2021-11-09–2022-11-14Claimant won
    Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca popular action, SCP 1471/2022-S3 (file 44443-2022-89-AP)
    Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal, Third Chamber (review of Oruro Departmental Court Resolution 113/2021) · Administrative · Comuneros of the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca → Vice-Minister of Mining Policy, Regulation and Oversight; Oruro departmental secretary of environment, water and Mother Earth; mayors of Poopó and Huanuni

    The Oruro court denied protection on 1 December 2021. On 14 November 2022 the Constitutional Tribunal revoked that resolution and granted protection in part: it ordered the Ministry of Environment and Water, with the Ministry of Health, the Oruro departmental government and the Poopó municipality, to carry out in the first half of 2023 a study of the water supplying the community and act on it; it denied protection against the Vice-Minister and on territoriality. The ruling was provisional and preventive and made no finding of responsibility against the defendants. Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional (copy hosted by Noticias Fides)

  2. 2022-12-14Outcome not on record
    SCP 1582/2022-S2, government environmental audit of the Huanuni sub-basin
    Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal, Second Chamber · Administrative · Not stated in the sources reviewed → Not stated in the sources reviewed

    Supreme Decree 5442 cites the ruling as ordering the Contraloría General del Estado, with the Ministry of Environment and Water, to carry out a government environmental audit. The ruling itself was not found. Presidencia del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (copy on Pixilegal)

  3. Ongoing
    IACHR public hearing on mining contamination in the Lake Poopó basin
    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (virtual hearing) · International court · Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca, advised by CENDA → State of Bolivia

    On 8 July 2024 the IACHR's rapporteurs asked the State to present short- and long-term plans with specific deadlines to repair contaminated territories; the vice-minister said the ruling was strictly complied with and that the contamination was natural. No decision of the Commission is on record. Los Tiempos

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Metals above limits in the Huanuni river
Water: zinc, cadmium. Sediment: copper, zinc, arsenic, cadmium, lead
Annex to Supreme Decree 335, 2009, citing a 2008 study
Share of cadmium reaching Lake Poopó carried by the Huanuni river
61.2%
Journal of Mining and Environment, 2012; zinc 34.3%, lead 2.23%
Huanuni mine discharge analysis, 30 November 2021
Outside normal parameters
Control report cited in SCP 1471/2022-S3
Puñaca residents tested, September 2023
20 people; all above EU reference value for arsenic
As reported by Mongabay Latam; cadmium detectable in 2 and lead in 4

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Court ruling existsOfficial audit findingDisplacement reported

Nature

  • Disputed Origin of the metals found at the Ayllu San Agustín de Puñaca
  • Disputed Daily metal load reaching Lake Poopó

Court

  • Unclear SCP 1582/2022-S2, government environmental audit of the Huanuni sub-basin: outcome not on record.

Accounts

  • Disputed Compliance with SCP 1471/2022-S3
  • Disputed Number of mining operations in the basin

Record

  • None on record None on record: a fine, sanction or criminal proceeding against a mining operator for discharges into the Huanuni sub-basin.
  • None on record None on record: compliance with SCP 1471/2022-S3. El Salto (June 2023) reported the deadline running without the State reacting and Mongabay Latam (April 2025) reported the ruling as not carried out; the vice-minister told the IACHR in July 2024 that it was strictly complied with.
  • None on record None on record: the text of SCP 1582/2022-S2, the Contraloría audit K2/AP24/O23-E1 and its seven recommendations; they are cited only in Supreme Decree 5442.
  • None on record None on record: amounts allocated for the 2009 emergency. The decree allows external financing and reallocation of own resources without a figure; the claimants allege international funds were received and the mandate not carried out.
  • Disputed Disputed: the origin of the metals at Puñaca (natural per the government; mining per the community; see disputes).
  • Disputed Disputed: the daily metal loads reaching the lake (see disputes).
  • Disputed Disputed: the year of the ruling: the judgment is dated 14 November 2022; El Salto and Mongabay Latam place the ruling in 2023.
  • Not measured Not measured: the court states that no current precise report on the quantity and quality of Puñaca's water existed and ordered one.

Did the harm stop?

The sources reviewed do not report that the discharges stopped. Mongabay Latam recorded the Huanuni tailings dam unfinished in March 2017; Mongabay Latam reported in April 2025 that SCP 1471/2022-S3 had not been carried out; a national emergency was declared in August 2025.

Who paid?

No payer is recorded. The decree of 2009 assigned prevention, mitigation and recovery to the Oruro Prefecture and affected municipalities with the Ministry of Mining and Metallurgy through COMIBOL; the ruling of 2022 ordered a water study by the Ministry of Environment and Water with the Ministry of Health, the Oruro departmental government and the Poopó municipality. No amounts are on record.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators✓ Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society✓ Researchers

Government and regulators

  1. Decreto Supremo Nº 335, 21 de octubre de 2009
    Lexivox (text of the Bolivian Supreme Decree) · 2009-10-21
  2. Decreto Supremo N° 5442, 13 de agosto de 2025 (text on Pixilegal)
    Presidencia del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia (copy on Pixilegal) · 2025-08-13

Courts

  1. Sentencia Constitucional Plurinacional 1471/2022-S3, expediente 44443-2022-89-AP (PDF)
    Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional (copy hosted by Noticias Fides) · 2022-11-14

Press and investigations

  5. La tragedia del Poopó
    Correo del Sur · 2015-12-19

Communities and civil society

  1. International technical assistance is consolidated to recover Uru Uru and Poopó lakes
    AIDA (Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense) · 2021-09-15

Researchers

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Science and environment

Tailings and tailings dam
Tailings are the waste left after ore is processed; a tailings dam is the embankment that stores them as wet sludge.
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