Environmental authorities in Minas Gerais monitor the water quality of the Rio das Velhas. The body of water, located in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, presented, two weeks ago, a color change.
The location is a water catchment point for Copasa, the company responsible for the water supply of several municipalities in Minas Gerais, including the capital. According to Belo Horizonte City Council, 60% of the water distributed in the city comes from the Rio das Velhas.
Copasa informed, however, that all water production in the Water Treatment Station of the Rio das Velhas System is within the parameters established by the Ministry of Health. In addition, the company said it had increased “the frequency of collection and analysis of raw water, providing greater operational security for the continuity of water production”.
Color changes
The State Secretariat for the Environment informed that it received a complaint, on March 27, that there was a change in the color of the water in the river and that the material that caused the change came from the tributary stream Fazenda Velha.
The following day, the secretariat began investigating the possible causes of the occurrence. It was detected that the stream, at the confluence with the Rio das Velhas, had an even redder color and was more turbid. The probable presence of manganese and iron ore threads was also found at the site.
After that, the secretariat inspected a tailings dam and its auxiliary structures, which belong to Minérios Nacional, a subsidiary of Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN).
The Ecological Dam 1 serves the Fernandinho Mine and its spillway flows into the Córrego Fazenda Velha. On the day of the inspection, the secretariat found that the spillway was undergoing maintenance.
CSN assessed
The secretariat technicians also verified that there was reddish sediment in the Ecological Dam 1 and checked the water quality monitoring reports, provided by the company itself, which showed levels of manganese, iron, copper, color and biochemical oxygen demand above the standards of launch recommended in current legislation.
In view of this, the secretariat fined CSN for pollution/environmental degradation. The immediate cessation of the release of this material and the presentation of weekly reports on the water quality in the water bodies surrounding the dam were also determined.
Water samples are also being collected for analysis and a new inspection should be carried out in the coming days, informed the secretariat.
CSN
Through its press office, Minérios Nacional informed that it did not dump sediments or tailings in Córrego Fazenda Velha. According to the company, the current color of the water in the river has nothing to do with its activities.
“The cleaning activity of the sediment containment structure has already been completed. We also inform that Feam [Fundo Estadual do Meio Ambiente] and the Environmental Military Police were [na região]yesterday [11] and were able to verify the actions taken by the company to improve water quality. Also during the inspection, the company showed that the actions taken are in compliance with the parameters and limits of the current legislation”, says a note from Minérios Nacional.
The company also informed that it has implemented all the measures to guarantee the quality of the water downstream of its structures and that it is complying with all requests from the inspection body.
