Fishing companies pour material used to store crayfish
Chemical waste stains a lake in Argentina pink
This is not the first time the lake has taken on this color because industrial companies in the area used to use the site to pour their chemical waste.
AFP
A lake in Patagonia remained pink yesterday, due to a chemical spill from the wastes of local fishing companies, in a phenomenon that worries residents of the southern Argentine region.
Environmental scientist Pablo Lada said: "What happened represents, in our view, a picture of neglect by the county authorities.
Those who have to control the situation are the ones who allow the population to be poisoned.”
The official in charge of environmental control in the province, Juan Michelo, said last week that “the red color does no harm and will disappear in a few days,” explaining that a company transporting liquid waste from fishing companies had been “allowed to pour liquids into Lake Corfu.”
This lake is located on an area of between 10 and 15 hectares, 30 kilometers from the city of Trelew, which has a population of 120,000, in Chubut province.
The color is due to the presence of sodium sulfate, an antibacterial preservative used to store Norwegian lobster before export, that has contaminated the groundwater of the Chubut River.
Locals also complained of bad smells and the infestation of insects.
This is not the first time that the lake has taken on this color, because industrial companies in the area used to use the site to pour their chemical waste.
But the issue has escalated in recent weeks, and in the neighboring city of Rawson, the capital of Chubut County, it has become the title of the struggle for environmental preservation.
Tired of this frequent pollution without moving a finger, the residents of the deprived “Area 12” in Rawson blocked the way for trucks loaded with this waste to pass through the area.
"What's happening in Rawson is very dangerous," said Lada, a member of an anti-nuclear NGO in Chubut.
It's horrific.
These liquids are poured without any treatment into large artificial ponds hastily built for fishing companies.”
He pointed out that these contaminated products “leached into the groundwater.
There are dozens of trucks a day.”
"Chubut is a province rich in natural resources, and it is the fourth most important province in Argentina in terms of exports thanks to oil, fishing and aluminum," Lada explained.
He said, “The crisis we are going through is inexplicable.
We can be like Dubai economically.”
After being prevented from disposing of their cargo in Rawson, the fishermen resorted to an alternative solution of requesting temporary permission to dump their cargo on Lake Corfu, which had never been of any importance in terms of tourism or recreation.
The laws adopted in Chubut oblige companies specializing in fishing for export, especially Norwegian lobster and hake, to prepare their products on site.
This has created thousands of direct jobs in a county that has suffered for many years in an economic and political crisis.
Dozens of companies owned by foreign capital operate in this fishing zone located in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, subject to Argentine laws.
Lada pointed out that “the fishing processing sector creates job opportunities and employs a large category of the workforce, this is certain.
But these companies are making millions and they don't want to pay to transport this liquid waste to a treatment plant in Puerto Madryn, some 60 kilometers away, nor to build a treatment plant closer.”
The economy of Chubut province, which has a population of nearly 600,000, is based on agriculture, the food industry, fishing and tourism.
Puerto Madryn, in particular, is famous for having many whales and penguins from Punta Tombo.
Ecologist Pablo Lada: “The crisis we are living in cannot be explained.”
• Local residents complained about the spread of insects and bad odors.
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