The load of pesticides that fell after the collapse of the bridge that connected the municipalities of Aguiarnópolis (TO) and Estreito (MA) should only be removed from the Tocantins River after April. The bridge accident occurred in December last year.
The information was released by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) last Tuesday (21).
In the fall, two trailers with sulfuric acid, with a capacity of 79 tons of sulfuric acid, and a truck with 22 thousand liters of pesticides fell into the river. The accident left 14 people dead.
According to the agency, transporters of dangerous products and the company that owns the pesticide cargo hired companies to respond to chemical emergencies.
Several dives were carried out until January 9th and 29 drums containing 20 liters of pesticides each were removed. However, from January 10th, when the water flow increased at the Estreito Hydroelectric Plant, diving work was suspended. This increase made cargo removal operations impossible.
Also according to Ibama, the depth of the river exceeds 40 meters, which makes diving difficult, in addition to the poor visibility for removing containers.
Diving at the site is only possible when the river flow is approximately 1,000 m³/s. However, until January 15th, the outflow flow downstream of the dam was 7,532 m³/s, well above 1,000 m³/s, according to the National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency (ANA).
Given the current situation, Ibama expects the canisters to move away from the accident area, which could take them to distant locations. The Estreito Energia Consortium (Ceste), responsible for controlling the plant, was informed of the possibility, but reported that it was not possible to guarantee diving windows during the wet period, which runs until the end of April.
Therefore, work to remove pesticides was suspended.
* Under supervision
This content was originally published in Bridge fall: pesticides should only be removed from rivers after April on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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