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This is the Las Vacas River in Guatemala - or what's left of it. Because: According to a local organization, around 60 percent of the river now consists of waste and wastewater from the nearby capital Guatemala City. This means that the water can hardly flow - not to mention the living conditions for animals and plants.
Santiago often travels by the river. Here he is looking for scrap metal, bronze, silver or gold. He then sells it to make a living. He tells how the river has changed.
Santiago, scrap metal collector:
»There used to be clear water in the river here, a few years ago, but all that is gone. Now all that’s left is the sewage that comes from all over the country, from our Guatemala.”
And, Santiago says, this is now also having health consequences for him.
Santiago, scrap metal collector:
“Illnesses, fungus, you get it on your feet. Fungus also on your hands because you put them in the water too. And that causes fungus on your hands.”
The problem is not limited to the small Central American country alone. Because the Las Vacas flows into the Motagua River, which in turn flows into the Atlantic. According to the organization "The Ocean Cleanup", two percent of all plastic waste that reaches the oceans worldwide comes from Montagua alone - due to pollution in Guatemala.