Pilcomayo water samples confirm that it is not suitable for human consumption

The analysis of six samples of water from the Pilcomayo River confirmed that it is class B and C, which means that it is not suitable for human consumption.informed, Efraín Rivera, Secretary of Productive Development, Natural Resources and Environment of the Government of Tarija.

“You can only take water from the river if it is treated, but it can be used for irrigation”said the official with the lab results in hand.

The director of Environmental and Risk Management, Reiner Figueroa, explained that, Being class B and C, the river is polluted by sewage, from sewage and other types of pollution.

He added that, for now, it is ruled out that the river is contaminated by heavy metals. as reflected in the laboratory analyzes that were collected after the mining spill in the Upper Pilcomayo Basin due to the collapse of a dam on July 23.

Technicians from the subnational entity took water samples from the river, which runs through the territory of the department of Tarija, from Tabasay to D’Orbigny, on the border with Argentina.

“Physical, chemical and biological analyzes were carried out, we have water contamination problems in categories B and C,” said Rivera, adding that they sent the documentation of the results to the Potosí Departmental Prosecutor’s Office to continue with the lawsuit filed against the Federation of Mining Cooperatives for the breakage of the dam in the Agua Dulce area.

The departmental secretary indicated that now what remains is also to pressure the mining companies to change the precarious structures of the tailings dams in the short and medium term to avoid another mining disaster in the future.