The River
The Matanza River is known by several names, including, in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, RÃo de la Matanza ("the slaughter river" in English), RÃo Matanza ("slaughter river"), RÃo Mataderos ("slaughterhouses river"), RÃo de la Manzana ("the apple river") or simply Riachuelo ("little river"). It is a stream in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
that originates in the
Buenos Aires Province and defines the southern boundary of the
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the RÃo de la Plata, on South ...
federal district. It empties into the
RÃo de la Plata
The RÃo de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...
between
Tandanor and
Dock Sud. The
La Boca
La Boca (; "the Mouth", probably of the Matanza River) is a neighborhood (''barrio'') of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. It retains a strong Italian flavour, many of its early settlers having originated in the city of Genoa.
Geography
L ...
neighbourhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; American and British English spelling differences, see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community ...
and the
Boca Juniors football club are located near the stream's mouth. The Spanish word ''boca'' means "mouth".
The river's course has been
canalized
River engineering is a discipline of civil engineering which studies human intervention in the course, characteristics, or flow of a river with the intention of producing some defined benefit. People have intervened in the natural course and b ...
and
channelized in places, especially along its lower course.
![Puente Nicolás Avellaneda-Buenos Aires](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Puente_Nicol%C3%A1s_Avellaneda-Buenos_Aires.jpg)
From its source down to La Noria Bridge on
Avenida General Paz
Avenida General Paz (official name Ruta Nacional A001 - National Route A001) is a beltway freeway surrounding the city of Buenos Aires. Roughly following the boundary between the city and Buenos Aires Province, it is one of the few motorways in A ...
, the river is usually referred to as ''RÃo La Matanza'', and from that point onwards as ''Riachuelo''. Approximately 3.5 million people live in its
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
of .
The south-easterly storm wind, known as ''Sudestada'', hinders the waters of the Riachuelo from reaching the RÃo de la Plata, producing frequent flooding in low-lying areas like La Boca and
Barracas. Since 1995 a number of
flood control
Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
projects have been carried out to prevent such occurrences.
The Matanza's main
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...
are the Cañuelas, Chacón, and Morales streams in the Province of Buenos Aires, and the Cildáñez stream (currently piped) in the
Greater Buenos Aires urban area.
Environmental Issues
The Matanza basin is the most polluted river in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
and it is considered one of the ten most polluted places globally, with very high levels of lead. One of the main reasons why it is polluted is that the river receives large amounts of
industrial waste from the numerous factories along the river, especially tanneries. Among the most dangerous contaminants are
heavy metals and waste water from the basin's saturated layers. 25% of children living in urban
slums along the water’s edge have lead in their bloodstreams, and even more suffer from gastrointestinal and respiratory illness. A contentious political subject since at least the 1862–68 administration of President
Bartolomé Mitre,
the Riachuelo's plight has attracted the attention of other public figures, notably artist and
Greenpeace activist
Nicolás GarcÃa Uriburu, who planned to dye the waterway green in 1970, and later carried through on
World Water Day
World Water Day is an annual United Nations (UN) observance day held on 22 March that highlights the importance of fresh water. The day is used to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The theme of each year focuses o ...
(March 22) in 2010, to draw attention to the problem.
1990's Clean Up Project
In 1993, President
Carlos Menem's Secretary of Environment,
MarÃa Julia Alsogaray
MarÃa Julia Alsogaray (October 8, 1942 – September 24, 2017) was an Argentine politician and engineer convicted in 2004 for financial crimes against the state.
Biography
The second of three children of socialite Edith Gay and conservative poli ...
, presented a 3-year project to clean up the Riachuelo that was approved, but never started, let alone concluded. Alsogaray would later be prosecuted for misappropriation of those public funds.
According to Argentine newspaper ''
Página/12'', of the 250-million-dollar budget, only $90 million remain; $6 million were lost in punitive interests, $150 million were destined to unrelated social projects, and only $1 million was used for the actual cleanup. Critics have also noted that this cleanup was in vain, as all that was done was to remove sunken ship hulls, but nothing was done to prevent newly abandoned ships from sinking. A period of optimism regarding the waterway's condition followed announcements in 2006 by President
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
that the Riachuelo's improvement would be prioritized; but, though some efforts were undertaken,
[ the river remains a source of health problems and urban blight for its adjoining neighbourhoods. Environmental cleanup efforts have been supplemented by ]urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
proposals for the area.
Supreme Court lawsuit
In 2004, a group of residents of the Matanza basin, living in one of the worst-polluted urban slums, filed a case before the Supreme Court of Argentina
The Supreme Court of Argentina ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Argentina), officially known as the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentine Nation ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina, CSJN), is the highest court of l ...
, against the national government, the provincial government, the municipality, and several private companies. The case was named the Mendoza case, after Beatriz Mendoza, one of the residents filing the case. They were asking compensation for the environmental damages they faced as a consequence of the environmental contamination of the river, and they required the halting of contamination activities. In July 2008 the Argentinian Supreme Court issued its decision, recognising the federal government’s liability, together with the city and province of Buenos Aires, for the environmental damages in the river. The Court recognised the residents' right to a healthy environment and that the governments had to repair the damage. The Court ordered the governments to: (a) improve the quality of life for the people living in the area, (b) remediate the ecological damage of the basin and (c) prevent further contamination. However, the Court did not issue any decision with regard to the private companies involved. Five NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s that had been active in the case - including Greenpeace - were also involved by the Court, that appointed them as patrols for the river and surrounding areas, to control how the improvements and works planned for the river basin were carried out.
See also
*List of rivers of Argentina
This is a list of rivers of Argentina.
Longest Rivers
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. Rivers in the table above are in bold.
La Plata Basin
* RÃ ...
References
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Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...
an
GeoLocator
}
Matanza
Greater Buenos Aires
La Matanza Partido
Avellaneda
Rivers of Buenos Aires Province
La Plata basin