Motagua River: Minor tributaries such as Las Vacas feed pollution
Several tributaries are connected to the Motagua River along its course as it crosses Guatemala, such as the Las Vacas River, the main tributary of the Capital City.
These minor rivers carry with them the waste of the communities along them. The domestic sector is the one that discharges the largest amount of wastewater into the Motagua River (49.5% of the total), a situation that is aggravated by the lack of wastewater treatment systems, as well as the lack of effective wastewater management plans. solid waste, such as plastic.
The Las Vacas River is a river in Guatemala that rises in the hills that form the southeastern outskirts of the Capital City, and flows northeast to join the Motagua River at the convergence of the limits of the Guatemalan departments of El Progreso and Baja Verapaz. Photo: Carlos Duarte
This river forms one of the largest sewage drains in the city. It is highly polluted, contains little aquatic life, and contributes to the contamination of the Motagua River and the marine ecosystem in the Gulf of Honduras. Photo: Carlos Duarte
In Chinautla, one of the municipalities located to the north of the city, and which is crossed by the Las Vacas River, the contamination is so evident and so excessive that it can even cause incidents in the communities settled on the banks of the tributary, such as causing flooding or damage in bridges. Photo: Carlos Duarte
Chinautla is a succession of ravines and mountains crossed by black water rivers. The majority of the population accumulates in the multitude of precarious settlements that have proliferated since the 1980s. Photo: Carlos Duarte
A low level of education and a corrupt municipal administration that has remained in power for decades, do not allow the municipality of Chinautla to enjoy basic services, such as the extraction and management of garbage and residual waste, for which the majority of its inhabitants decides to dispose of the garbage in the Las Vacas river. Photo: Carlos Duarte
Tierra Nueva and the invasions of the Santa Faz project are both large communities in the municipality of Chinautla. In the rural areas of the municipality there are villages without access to drinking water, and sandboxes have multiplied, increasing environmental vulnerability, and there are still residents who have to cross suspension bridges to enter and exit their communities. Photo: Carlos Duarte
But the residents of Chinautla affirm that although they pollute, they defend themselves by arguing that they are not the only ones, since the greatest amount of contamination comes from the Capital City and other central municipalities such as Mixco. Photo: Carlos Duarte
During the rainy season, landslides in the Sanitary Landfill of zone 3, the largest garbage dump in Guatemala City, drag garbage into the Las Vacas River that runs just below this place. In addition to this, many of the settlements located in the ravines of the city, dispose of their garbage in the river due to the lack of garbage removal services. Photo: Carlos Duarte
A tire is seen washed in one of the shores of the Las Vacas river, in Chinautla on the outskirts of Guatemala City. Las Vacas is one of the many tributaries of the Motagua River, most filled by garbage. Photo: Carlos Duarte
The rains increase the flow of the river to such an extent that the amount of garbage that Las Vacas drags can be counted by tons. And the same garbage is carried into the Motagua River, which accumulates waste from other places in Guatemala. Photo: Carlos Duarte
Pollution and the presence of populations and communities on the banks of the Las Vacas River have completely eradicated its biodiversity. Community leaders recount how a few years ago, crocodiles could still be seen wandering in the tributary, and that there were a large number of amphibians and birds that helped maintain an ecological balance in the river. Photo: Carlos Duarte
Pollution and human presence eliminated the biodiversity that inhabited the Las Vacas River. Now, the only animals seen on the plastic-strewn banks are buzzards, starving dogs, cows and horses from the communities along the river. Photo: Carlos Duarte
In Guatemala, the Motagua river basin drains through 13 different departments, and is inhabited by 5.1 million people, of which 69.26% reside in urban areas, and the rest (30.74%) in rural areas. . All these people are distributed in 80 different municipalities, including Guatemala City, the most populous city in all of Central America. Photo: Carlos Duarte
The domestic sector is the one that discharges the largest amount of wastewater into the Motagua River (49.5% of the total), a situation that is aggravated by the lack of wastewater treatment systems, as well as the lack of effective wastewater management plans. solid waste, such as plastic. Photo: Carlos Duarte
According to the Motagua River Basin Comprehensive Management Project, this is due to the fact that 88.38% of the country's landfills are not authorized, and the rest, administered by different municipal governments, do not present more technical information. regarding the management and disposal of waste. Photo: Carlos Duarte