The cleaning project for the lagoon complex in the city of Rio de Janeiro should come off the ground in December 2021. According to Iguá’s expectations, the company that won the tender to operate water and sewage services in block 2 (Barra , Jacarepaguá, Paty do Alferes and Miguel Pereira), the lagoon system cleaning program has a deadline to be delivered in mid-2022.
Approximately one million Cariocas depend on the Rio city’s lagoon system, comprising the Barra da Tijuca and Jacarepaguá (Marapendi, Camorim and Jacarepaguá) lagoons in the city’s West Zone.
The lagoon complex bathes 17 districts of the state capital. The fauna present in the place stands out for its capybaras, alligators and migratory birds. Due to pollution, fish in the region have practically disappeared, according to environmentalists.
Due to a contractual commitment, the concessionaire will have to spend R$ 250 million on cleaning up the lakes in the west side of the city. Starting in December of this year, work will begin with the water mirror and the recovery of the banks of the Lagoa da Tijuca, champion of pollution levels in the capital.
Simultaneously, Iguá is preparing a project to present to the State Environmental Institute (Inea), which suggests the removal of the sludge. The substance is present at the bottom of polluted lakes, which makes water circulation difficult. However, the final plan still does not have a deadline to be presented.
In conversation with the CNN, the president of Iguá, Carlos Brandão, stated that, at first, the project foresees the removal of solid waste from the lagoon complex. In a second moment, it will be the removal of Iodine. It is important to emphasize that the lagoon complex is known for having sofas, mattresses, old tires and PET bottles.
“We are in a project phase. What we will do at this point is the removal of solid waste and fine sludge. This tends to improve the circulation of water in the lagoon complex”, said Brandão. According to the specialist, the company is working on complementary projects to improve the communities’ sanitary sewage system, which is also launched in these rivers in the lagoon complex.
“These projects together will help both in removing the sewage that goes down to the lagoon complex and also in improving the quality of life of the communities. We have three years of execution after licensing”, says Brandão.
For biologist Mario Moscatelli, the lagoon complex in Rio de Janeiro needs to be revitalized “as soon as possible”. And, for that, it depends on the recovery projects presented by the concessionaire, together with the government. However, the expert hopes that the measures are, in fact, put into practice.
“The most important step is to actually start the project, get out of this inertia. Until today we had a lot of project, a lot of study and nothing practical. This revitalization was promised at the 2016 Olympics, for example. But nothing practical really happened at the time. The idea behind the first initiative to recover riparian forests is to prevent unwanted materials from reaching the lake”, explained the biologist.
Moscatelli claims that an efficient job of cleaning the pond can yield good results in approximately two years. However, he points out that R$250 million provided for in the contract may not be enough to complete the entire cleaning of the lagoon system.
“What was proposed by the contract is a good amount. But I believe the stipulated amount is not enough. To really finish the job, it will be necessary to spend something between R$400 and R$450 million”, he concluded.
Reference: CNN Brasil
