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- The problem of plastic pollution in the Rio Motagua, Guatemala
The problem of plastic pollution in the Rio Motagua, Guatemala
Guatemala
last update:
11 months agoProblems
The Motagua River is a 486-kilometer-long river in Guatemala. It rises in the western highlands of Guatemala where it is also called Río Grande, and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The final few kilometers of the river form part of the Guatemala–Honduras border. The Motagua River basin covers an area of 12,670 square kilometers and is the largest in Guatemala. Navigable by shallow-draft boats for approximately 125 miles (200 km) upstream from its mouth, the Motagua is a major transportation artery for the bananas, coffee, and other fruits raised in the valleys of the eastern portion. The United Fruit Company began extensive banana operations in the river valley in 1904. There is some placer gold mining along its course. The Puerto Barrios–Guatemala City railroad and Atlantic Highway follow the river valley upstream as far as El Progreso.
Causes of plastic pollution in the Rio Motagua
The Motagua River is believed to be the number one most plastic-emitting river in the world, contributing around two percent of global plastic pollution emissions into the world's oceans annually. Causes of pollution in Rio Motagua, Guatemala: ● untreated sewage, ● industrial waste, ● tons of sediment (garbage) and blackwater from Guatemala City. What makes the Rio Motagua situation unique is that an urban landfill sits quite literally on top of one of its tributaries, the Rio Las Vacas. Like many other rivers in the region, Rio Motagua also suffers from unlicensed waste dumping. During the rainy season, these factors lead to exceptionally heavy flows of trash flowing into Rio Motagua every year, adding to the plastic pollution problem in the Caribbean Sea. Up to 20,000 tonnes of plastic is flowing through the Rio Motagua basin on an annual basis. This would equate to roughly 2% of the world’s overall plastic emissions to the oceans. Analogy: all airplane emissions, worldwide, total 1.9% of global CO2 emissions. Stopping the flow of plastic in this one river could have a proportionally similar reductive impact on plastic emissions as the elimination of all air travel would have on carbon emissions. Crocodiles, amphibians, and birds were once common in the river, but the biodiversity has disappeared.
Solutions
The Ocean Cleanup work on intercepting plastic pollution in river.
Author: The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization chose the Motagua Basin as the test site for its experimental "Interceptor Trashfence," which attempts to filter out solid pollutants as they flow downriver. The Ocean Cleanup after years of work with the relevant authorities and local partners, while also developing the novel design of the Interceptor Trashfence, deployed first Trashfence in the Motagua Basin. The Trashfence is situated in the Rio Las Vacas – the tributary through which the trash passes before entering the main branch of the Rio Motagua. The Trashfence has been given the designation Interceptor 006.
Gallery
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Timelines
2024
April
One of the most polluted rivers in Latin America the Motagua River receives daily garbage from more than one million people living in Guatemala. In response to the environmental emergency, the government of Guatemala allowed the NGO Ocean Clean Up to install an interceptor in a stream of the river to prevent millions of tons from continuing to reach the Gulf of Honduras and the Caribbean Sea. In April 2024, this interceptor managed to capture 1,400 tons of plastic in a single rainy night, which was then shredded and transformed into other elements. The new government in Guatemala agreed to a public-private partnership to save this river within 10 years. Although one of the solutions is to install a greater number of garbage interceptors along the river, the main challenge is to attack the root of the problem: that is to achieve a cultural and administrative change so that millions of Guatemalans do not throw their garbage into the river that reaches the world's oceans."
2022
In May, the Ocean Cleanup deployed first Trashfence in the Motagua Basin.
2020
An investigation presented by the National Institute of Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH) of Guatemala showed that of 27 basins analyzed (20 rivers, 3 lakes and 3 lagoons), including the Motagua River Basin, only 5 rivers and 3 lagoons have water suitable for human consumption. Illegal landfills represent 88.32% of all landfills in the country. By the end of the year 1,400 illegal landfills were reported closed in Guatemala.
2019
Government of Guatemala through its Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) to report during United Nations Climate Action Summit that it had installed more than 200 "biofences" in different rivers, a national technological development that was proudly displayed as effectively stopping solid waste before it reached the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. But the biofences – which cost US $2.5 million to install – failed to live up to those lofty expectations.
2018
The Ocean Cleanup sent first crew to Guatemala to investigate help to stem this flow of trash and have been working hard to find the right solution for this unique and complex location.
2017
The problem of plastic pollution originating from the Rio Motagua gained global recognition, when footage of islands of trash (and of a SCUBA diver taking a dip in the plastic soup) went viral.