Once clean enough to drink, the Andean lake was poisoned by mining pollution and urban waste. But now Indigenous women are using giant reeds to revive the vital ecosystem

• Photographs by Claudia Morales for the Guardian

Looking out over Lake Uru Uru in the Bolivian highlands, it is hard to imagine that it once supported thousands of people, and was a sanctuary for wildlife, including 76 species of birds.

Plastic waste now stretches as far as the eye can see, the water is tinged black or brown, and the stench is overwhelming.