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The Cali River has turned dark in recent days due to the pollution it has caused, also nauseating smells. This is one of the most important water sources in the city, as it supplies the upper area, the center and some of the south.
“We evidenced a phenomenon that is concurrent and especially when the rainy seasons come. We found the Cali River, smelling ugly and equally, a high turbidity and it changes its color and turns dark”, said the director of the Administrative Department of Management of the Environment (Dagma), Carlos Calderón.
The river was stained black like six years ago from the same point where it joins the Aguacatal river that comes from the hillside.
Regarding whether this contamination at the point where the Cali river meets the Aguacatal river affects water consumption, according to information from Emcali, it is not affected, because the discharges would be occurring on Aguacatal itself. This river joins the Cali river in Entrerríos and is much lower than the intake of the San Antonio plant that makes the liquid from the tutelar river drinkable.
Water consumption is not affected, because the discharges would be occurring over Aguacatal itself and it is much lower than the intake of the San Antonio plant
In that 2014, when the alert for dark waters was presented, the Dagma and the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Valley (CVC) pointed out the worrying death of fish. There were even examinations of the animals in a CVC laboratory.
At that time, the authorities warned about the consumption of fish due to this situation in the tutelar river.
The smell of fuel, mixed with that of the sewer, accompanied the arrival of dead fish to the surroundings of the center of Cali, six years ago.
In that year, the ‘subienda’ surprised passersby, many of them employees who were returning to their work sites along Paseo Bolívar.
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The director of Dagma said that the causes of this alert being repeated are very specific. “In the first place, there is an environmental liability in the coal mines, some empty and others abandoned, in the El Chocho creek sector that is a tributary of the Aguacatal river and flows into the Cali river.”
In the first place, there is an environmental liability in the coal mines, some empty and others abandoned, in the El Chocho stream sector that is a tributary of the Aguacatal River and empties into the Cali River.
He added: “That this produces a liquid called caparrosa, which is a liquid from ferric sulfates and makes the waters acidic.” He said that due to coagulation phenomena due to water contaminated by discharges from settlements in Montebello, for example, and with the increase in volume due to rain they circulate again. In conclusion, the contamination is produced by this environmental liability of the coal mines, added to the discharges of untreated wastewater “.
The official pointed out that this is an issue not from now, but comes from many years ago. “It ends up affecting the physical-chemical quality of the river, it requires a comprehensive approach. We have to continue with the wastewater treatment plant in Montebello as a basic solution.” Or that the residual waters of the district be treated by the Cañaveralejo treatment plant of the Municipal Companies of Cali (Emcali) “.
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He expressed that one of the difficulties has been finding the lot for the ptar in Montebello.
“At this moment we are working to bring a substantive solution,” concluded director Calderón.
The Personería de Cali has also warned about the contamination of the river. According to the entity, local and regional authorities have already been warned about what is happening with the river in the past and have not made a diligent decision.
According to the Personería, they warned about the deforestation process that is taking place in the upper part and there is no tree planting, a situation that leads to the dragging of all kinds of materials; on garbage deposits, mining and the extraction of water from licenses granted to individuals and others that do so irregularly.
In a report delivered by the Personería, it was also pointed out about the mining activity with mercury and cyanide, as amalgamers, in the upper part of the basin.
In the middle part of the Cali river basin, which extends from the Felidia district to the entrance of the river to the city, at the height of the Zoo, the loss of vegetation cover caused by the hand of man was evident, as well as the discharge of sewage.
In this area are the incompletely developed human settlements of La Fortuna, Palermo and Atenas.
CALI
