The president of the NGO ‘Agua Para Todos’ foundation (Water for all) and a lawyer specializing in Environmental Law, Rodolfo Gil, calls for comprehensive work to clean up and decontaminate Pozuelos Bay in the state of Anzoátegui , on Venezuela’s northeastern coast.
Correspondent lapatilla.com
It should be remembered that last weekend the state government, together with the mayor of Puerto La Cruz, reopened a sewage pumping station located near the coast of Puerto La Cruz.
According to what they said in a press release, this work “generates a direct impact” on the sanitation of the aforementioned bay.
However, Gil believes that this type of isolated strategy does not solve the underlying problem, since the systems that currently exist are obsolete and new ones must be built.
“This pumping station collects wastewater from the center of Puerto La Cruz and part of what comes from the collectors in the upper part of the city. But the liquid arrives there and is pumped through a pipe that should discharge at least 1,500 meters away from the coast,” he explained.
The specialist reiterated that this is not a solution, since the system is adapted to the environmental laws and regulations that were in force decades ago when it was designed.
He pointed out that current regulations oblige the State to have treatment plants before dumping wastewater into the sea.
Gil mentioned that Article 84 of the Environmental Criminal Law states that anyone who dumps untreated wastewater into the sea can even receive a penalty of one or two years in prison.
The environmentalist recalled that in Puerto La Cruz there is a treatment plant that has been inactive for years and that was even inaugurated by the current mayor Nelson Moreno in one of his first two terms a couple of decades ago.
Finally, he insisted on the call to the authorities to work on the construction of at least a couple of modern plants, since he believes that this would help the sanitation and recovery of this space with tourist potential.