Ecobreves – PERU: Ultimatum for Polluters

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

LIMA, Jul 17 2004 (IPS) - The environmental health division of Peru's Health Ministry gave 165 mining and industrial companies 30 days to install treatment plants for the residual liquid that they have been dumping into the Rimac River, the source of 72 percent of the water consumed by the seven million residents of the capital. The river is highly contaminated by urban run-off and industrial and mining wastewater, particularly with lead, copper, cadmium and arsenic, as dumping occurs along its 110 km stretch.

Just 10 of the 175 companies that divert their wastewater into the river have treatment systems that have been registered and evaluated by the Peruvian environmental authorities, said ministry official Juana Sueldo.