The Sarandí stream on the outskirts of southern Buenos Aires suddenly turned bright red this past week, prompting concern among residents that the cause might be contaminants or pollutants dumped into the water. 

The stream, which snakes through the Avellaneda district and flows into the Río de la Plata, runs through an area housing several industries, from distilleries and tanneries to textiles. Residents of a nearby neighborhood known as Villa Inflamable have been denouncing for years that the stream is used to illegally dump chemical and industrial waste, calling the situation “disastrous.” 

Environmental organizations also contend that they have been alerting authorities about this contamination but have failed to get meaningful actions implemented. In addition to dangers for the environment, this type of pollution is also potentially hazardous for the health of nearby residents. 

Residents demand answers 

Interviewed by C5N TV station, a resident of the area named Silvia described what they are going through. “My husband left our house and told me it was all red. There have been other times when it was yellow, with an acid stench that really stings your throat,” the woman explained, adding that there are not many factories in the area but many industrial warehouses.

She said that there is no smell this time around and that the situation does not seem to have affected the water supply, as she had clean, running water. 

Members of the Mobile Environmental Lab of the Buenos Aires province government were at the scene to take samples in for analysis. According to their findings, the water had traces of aniline, a toxic liquid used to make dye, varnish, herbicides, and other chemical products. 

Contaminated bodies of water are unfortunately not a rare occurrence in Argentina. The Matanza-Riachuelo basin, a 64-kilometer waterway originating in Buenos Aires province that runs alongside the south side of Buenos Aires City in to the Río de la Plata, is considered one of the most contaminated rivers in Latin America and one of the ten most polluted in the world. 

According to the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin Authority (ACUMAR, for its Spanish initials), the governing body in charge of sanitizing the waterway, contamination is due to three main causes: industrial dumps, informal sewage systems draining into the river, and its use as a site for tossing rubbish.

With information from Ámbito and C5N