Buenos Aires, Feb 2 (Inditop.com/EFE) More than 4.32 billion pesos ($1.12 billion) will be utilised this year for cleaning up the most polluted river in Argentina, authorities said.
The Matanza-Riachuelo Basin Authority, which is in charge of coordinating the cleanup of the waterway that marks the southern limit of the Argentine capital, Monday presented to the courts the updated report of the Comprehensive Cleanup Plan.
Between 2007 and 2009, 3.11 billion pesos was allocated for this task, according to the authority which was created after a 2006 ruling by the Supreme Court forced the governments of Buenos Aires and 14 suburban municipalities to clean the basin. It is home to nearly 5 million people.
In this new report, authorities have detailed the work that is going to be undertaken, including an international system to measure the pollution levels and determine where it comes from, as well as the preparation of a quarterly report on the condition of the water in the underground aquifers, the official Telam news agency reported.
The report says that the approximate investment up to the year 2024 will exceed 23.5 billion pesos.
The Matanza-Riachuelo Basin is the area which has given rise for decades to Argentina’s most polluted water, and the activities that are being undertaken to clean up the area have received countless criticisms from environmental organizations, who uniformly consider the efforts to be insufficient.
Flowing past the working class La Boca neighbourhood near the port of Buenos Aires, the Riachuelo is the site of some 140 clandestine trash dumps and has concentrations of mercury, zinc, lead and chromium that are 50 times the legal limit.
The river, on whose banks are located hundreds of different industrial sites, also has E. Coli concentrations comparable to raw sewage.
