“The red color that the Water it is due to the invasion of cyanobacteria fed by the high content of nitrogen and phosphorus “Rosa Morel, the laboratory director of the Ministry of the Environment, told AFP.
Laguna Cerro, one of many that form like meanders of the Paraguay River on a slope where the water course curves before reaching Asunción, was crystalline until four months ago.
The chemical elements found come from the organic decomposition of meat and solid waste from the leather, as well as from dead fish due to the effect of contamination, explained the expert.
“The fish died from the excessive content of salt, sodium chloride and sulfide discharged into the riverbed”added. A splash could damage human skin, he added.
The Ministry of the Environment suspended the license of the cattle slaughterhouse installed in the Piquetecué de Limpio neighborhood, not far from the main course of the Paraguay River, which crosses the country about 1,000 km from north to south and empties into the Paraná, 400 km to the south. on the border with Argentina.
The official intervention came after insistent protests by residents who drew attention for the fetid odor emitted by the waste and the sinuous color of the liquid in contrast to the natural matte green of the freshwater course.
“The damage has already been done. It is tremendous. It would take about 10 years to recover the water, unless hydraulic work is done to extract all the liquid,” said Luis Argaña, director of the environment for the Limpio mayor’s office.
The slaughterhouse, of Brazilian capital, dedicated to the manufacture of food for dogs, cured the leather with salt.
“It is cleaned with a lot of water in the process of skinning the leather. The spillage was thrown into the lagoon and the contamination used up the oxygen necessary for the life of the fish”added the Ministry technique.
“Invasive cyanobacteria do not allow another component of the aquatic system to reproduce. We found amounts of sodium that should not be contained in fresh water,” he said.
Laboratory work discovered 2,700 milligrams of sodium per liter. “It is a lot compared to the other small lakes and lagoons in the surroundings. In a neighboring lagoon there were not more than 28”, observed the engineer Morel when comparing the levels of contamination.
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