Thursday 5/23/2024
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Last update 17:22
After federal judge Carlos Vera Barros resolved the prosecution of five former owners of the company Aguas Santafesinas SA for dumping polluting liquids into the Paraná River, a decision of the federal justice that was made in light of the evidence presented that the firm dumped into the water about 350 million liters a day of untreated liquids and heavy metals, the company issued a statement in which it rejects the rulings on the Hazardous Waste Law.
According to the statement, which was accessed by El Litoral, the firm defends itself by stating that “this is the decision of the Federal Court to prosecute former directors, regarding which the company’s technicians express the inapplicability of the national regulations and the nonexistence of the investigated fact.”
“An appeal brief was presented today before Federal Court No. 3 in charge of Dr. Vera Barros, regarding the proceedings arranged in relation to a case originated by a complaint filed by a civil association.”
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“The brief offered by the defense solidly and completely argues the unfounded sentence that dictates the prosecutions of former members of the board of directors and general manager in charge of the firm at the time of the case, since “the service provided by the company does not yield hazardous waste, nor does it cause pollution,” he continues.
“Sewage liquids cannot be considered hazardous waste. In the ruling there is no collated evidence that establishes the contrary, and the current legal regulations for the provincial service establish the parameters of the sewage liquids that are met, with controls by the company and competent organizations.
“The activity concerning sanitary services does not cause environmental damage due to discharges of sewage liquids to a surface water course with a great capacity for natural dilution, such as the Paraná River, since they are biodegradable without affecting the environment,” continues the written by Aguas Santafesinas.
“In the reception centers for atmospheric trucks, the effluents are previously controlled to allow or reject their discharge. The prohibition of dumping other types of effluents on the networks that are not of household origin or similar to them is also controlled – as the regulations impose.
See also
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“The company has technical projects to carry out works that enable the treatment of sewage liquids, and improvements in the service in the city of Rosario. To this end, it works together with the Government of Santa Fe in the search for financing that makes its execution possible.”
“The defense brief requested the dismissal of all the directors,” he concludes.
The case
This is a case that has been pending for four years, both civilly and criminally. The federal court decided to seize the assets of the company’s owners, but the civil court has not made any further progress.
El Litoral contacted the company to find out the position regarding the Court’s decision, but there was no official institutional response.
Three years have passed since the Federal Justice investigation began to detect that the firm allegedly pollutes in a way that is “dangerous to health, the soil and the water of the Paraná River bed”, dumping sewage and industrial effluents without prior treatment into ” an approximate volume of 350 million liters per day from the Emisario Sur Reception Plant,” according to what was described in the official document signed by Judge Vera Barros.
“This news is being reflected chronologically. The complaint was filed in 2021 and the fundamental evidence is the laboratory analyzes carried out by the Environmental Crimes division of the Federal Police. The presence of Escherichia coli and fecal coliforms, among other contaminants, was verified in the 350 million liters per day that Aguas Santafesinas dumps,” Fabian Maggi, environmental lawyer and legal representative of the complainant organization Asociación Civil Cuenca Río Paraná, told El Litoral.
“The judge advanced the criminal process with the aim of reaching a conviction for the crime of Violation of the Hazardous Waste Law,” he added.
“What worries us, and are the next steps to take, is to ensure that, like Judge Vera Barros, Judge Sylvia Aramberri (judge of the Federal Court of Rosario), who has the environmental protection that is followed by this same issue, which has already been extremely delayed awaiting a ruling for two years, order Aguas Santafesinas to build the treatment plant that Rosario – incredibly – does not have,” he concluded.
The effluents studied “consist of substances with high thermotolerant coliform values, with the presence of Escherichia coli, which have caused an increase in the NMP/100ml value at the point where the outfall and the Paraná River converge.” This is indicated by the resolution of Judge Vera Barros.
According to the lawyer, “what violates all logic at this point in modernity is that Rosario still does not have its own sanitation plant.” The lawyer was satisfied with the criminal progress of the case. However, the other environmental protection file that has been processed for five years in civil matters in the court of Judge Sylvia Aramberri has constant twists and turns.
