Is The Amazon River Being Polluted? Illegal Gold Mining Reportedly Damaging Waterway

The damage done by the illegal miners, who number in the thousands, have done some serious damage--illegal gold mining has wiped out 15, 180 acres of the forest per year since 2008, according to the Carnegie Institution for Science and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, that's not all. Miners use mercury to extract gold from soil and as a result, tons of mercury have been dumped in the water causing the water to be poisoned. The water quality damage builds on the other forms of destruction the illegal miners create, including carving up the forest floor and riverbeds.
http://www.latintimes.com/articles/9738/20131030/peru-amazon-forest-deforestation-facts-gold-mining.htm#.UnEr2VOgujc