The Water and Sewage Company of Rio de Janeiro (Cedae) informed that it intends to resume capturing water this Monday (28), after interrupting the operation of the Guandu Water Treatment Station (ETA) due to the presence of a white foam in the unit’s catchment source. The supply of the eight municipalities served by the system should only be fully normalized in the next 72 hours.
:: White foam makes Cedae interrupt water supply to 13 million people ::
Cedae guaranteed that the water that still reaches the population’s homes is within potability standards and is safe for consumption. For the company, the launch of the substance, a type of detergent, was punctual, which should make the water in the Guandu River capable of being collected again by the end of the day.
To the press, the company explained that a foam with a strong odor was detected around 4 am this Monday (28), at the main dam of the ETA Guandu, and the technicians identified that it was caused by the presence of a surfactant substance in the source of capture of the unit – chemical compound present in detergents – above the values foreseen by the legislation, which is 0.5 ml per liter. A contingency protocol was adopted, paralyzing the operation at 5:30 am, and the State Institute for the Environment (Inea) was activated.
criminal release
Inea, in turn, called the Civil Police, which is investigating the case through the Environmental Protection Police Station. According to the president of the institute, Philipe Campello, the foam originated from a criminal release of a surfactant substance into the water. The author of the environmental crime also incurred a double non-compliance, for not having communicated the problem to the authorities.
According to information from Agência Brasil, Inea’s work includes verifying whether any of the 72 industrial and commercial establishments licensed for dumping in Guandu was responsible for this release. The hypothesis that the substance was thrown into the river in other ways, such as a truck, for example, was also not ruled out.
The stoppage affects approximately 11 million people in eight municipalities in the metropolitan region and Baixada Fluminense, namely Rio de Janeiro, Belford Roxo, Duque de Caxias, Itaguaí, Nilópolis, Nova Iguaçu, Queimados and São João de Meriti.
Source: BdF Rio de Janeiro
Editing: Mariana Pitasse
