How Uncontrolled Urban Expansion Increases the Contamination of the Titicaca Lake Basin (El Alto, La Paz, Bolivia) D. Archundia & C. Duwig & L. Spadini & G. Uzu & S. Guédron & M. C. Morel & R. Cortez & O. Ramos Ramos & J. Chincheros & J. M. F. Martins Received: 14 June 2016 /Accepted: 8 December 2016 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 Abstract Cities in developing countries encounter rap- id waves of social transformation and economic devel- opment where the environment is mostly a neglected aspect. The Katari watershed encompasses mining areas, El Alto city (one of the fastest growing urban areas in South America and the biggest in the Altiplano) as well as agricultural areas. Its outlet is Cohana Bay, one of the most polluted areas of Lake Titicaca. Here we propose an integrative approach (hydrological, physico- chemical, chemical and bacterial data) to understand the pollution problem of this developing area, in which a variety of anthropogenic activities takes place. Both mining and urban areas appear to be sources of metal pollution. Nutrient and bacterial contaminations are mainly related to urban and industrial discharges. These situations have impacts in the basin from the mining area down to Cohana Bay of Lake Titicaca. Pollutant concentration patterns are highly influenced by seasonal hydrology variations. The poor quality of surface waters in the basin represents a risk for human and animal populations, as well as for the quality of aquifers located underneath El Alto city. Keywords Surface water contamination . Trace metals . Coliforms . Watershed . Bolivia Water Air Soil Pollut (2017) 228:44 DOI 10.1007/s11270-016-3217-0 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11270-016-3217-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. D. Archundia : C. Duwig (*) : L. Spadini : G. Uzu : M. C. Morel : J. M. F. Martins Univ. Grenoble Alpes, IRD, CNRS, IGE, F38000 Grenoble, France e-mail: celine.duwig@ird.fr S. Guédron Univ. Grenoble Alpes, IRD, CNRS, ISTERRE, F38000 Grenoble, France M. C. Morel CNAM, Laboratoire d’analyses chimiques et bio analyses, Paris Cedex 3, France R. Cortez Instituto de Geología y Medio Ambiente (IGEMA), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, 303 La Paz, Bolivia O. Ramos Ramos Instituto de Investigaciones Químicas (IIQ), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, 303 La Paz, Bolivia J. Chincheros Instituto de Biología, Laboratorio de Calidad Ambiental (LCA), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, 303 La Paz, Bolivia D. Archundia Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT), Av. Insurgentes Sur 1582, 03940 México, D.F., Mexico Present Address: D. Archundia ERNO, Instituto de Geologia, Av Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta SN, Los Arcos, 83250 Hermosillo, Son, Mexico