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Acute Health Problems in Indigenous Communities The Achuar, Aguaruna, Urarina, Candoshi and other indigenous peoples of the region depend on clean forest and river resources for subsistence. However, as various studies over the last two decades have shown, the rivers on which they depend contain high levels of salt and oil, critical concentrations of chloride, and high electrical conductivity, particularly the Corrientes, Tigre and Piedra Negra Rivers.
Many communities have no springs or alternatives sources of water and are forced to drink polluted river water. Heavy metals and organic compounds have accumulated in the aquatic food chain causing acute health problems in local communities, resulting in many deaths. In the indigenous community of Pucacacuro, a leader stated:
"We no longer have any places to fish, We stopped fishing in our lake, because once when we ate fish from the lake, everyone got sick with nausea, diarrhea and other, incurable diseases. Five men died."
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