TANQUA, Brazil (AP) — Several tons of fish have died along one of the main rivers in Sao Paulo state after an alleged illegal dumping of industrial waste from a sugar and ethanol plant, environmental authorities and prosecutors said on Wednesday. A preliminary analysis estimates that between 10 and 20 tons of fish died on the Piracicaba river, Sao Paulo’s prosecutors said in a press release. The initial investigation points to an “irregular discharge of wastewater” from Estiva’s Sao Jose plant in the community of Rio das Pedras, and it reached a stream that flows into the Piracicaba River, prosecutors said.
Estiva, the company that operates the plant, didn’t respond to several AP requests for comment. “It will take years for the environment to recover,” said Adriano Queiroz, director of licensing at Sao Paulo’s environmental agency, in a video call. Due to the number of fish killed and the variety of species affected, the impact on biodiversity is significant, he added.
The Piracicaba river crosses a protected area named Tanqua, that has been dubbed Sao Paulo’s mini-Pantanal, after the tropical wetlands famous for abundant wildlife and dazzling natural scenes. On Wednesday a carpet of floating fish corpses covered the waterway, littering stretches of the river. “This sad environmental disaster has moved everyone because of the seriousness and extent of the impacts,” prosecutors said, adding that the situation of the fishermen and the local community is.
