Status: 07/26/2021 12:15 p.m.
Local residents have long been complaining about the putrid smell around the Corfo Lagoon in southern Argentina. Now the lagoon is also colored pink. Conservationists believe the reason is fishing waste.
Suspected chemical pollution has colored the Corfo Lagoon in southern Argentina pink. Experts and conservation activists told AFP news agency that the discoloration was caused by the introduction of antibacterial sodium sulfite into the water. The substance is used by fishing companies as a preservative.
Sodium sulfite from fishery waste
Local residents have long complained of foul smell and environmental sins around the lagoon and the Chubut River. The environmental activist Pablo Lada told AFP that the Corfo lagoon had been colored pink since last week. The environmental engineer and virologist Federico Restrepo attributed the discoloration to sodium sulfite from fishing waste. He emphasized that the agent had to be processed before it was disposed of.
“Don’t trivialize a serious matter like that”
The Corfo Lagoon is located near the industrial area of the southern Argentine city of Trelew. In the past, the water had already been heavily discolored by the discharge of industrial waste.
Juan Micheloud from the Chubut province’s environmental watchdog gave an assurance last week that the “reddish color” of the Corfo lagoon would “do no harm”. It will go away in a few days, “he said. The planning secretary Sebastian de la Vallina from Trelew contradicted this information.” It is not possible to minimize such a serious matter, “he said.