Mystery after canal turns blood-red and ‘smells like rubbish’

When Buenos Aires residents woke up to a ‘nauseating’ stench, they saw red – literally.

A river in a suburb of the Argentinian capital turned blood-red on Thursday, raising fears of industrial pollution in the area.

The cause of the Sarandi Canal’s red hue remains a mystery and theories are rampant among locals.

Pictures show the ‘bloody stream’ flowing into an estuary, the Rio de la Plata, which neighbours an ecological reserve.

Residents were first alerted to the problem when they awoke to a terrible smell radiating form the water.

A team from the country’s Environment Ministry rushed down to the site and took samples from the canal to determine the cause of the colour change.

Some residents are pointing the finger at a nearby industrial sites, claiming the red colour is the result of a chemical waste dump into the river.

Others allege the waterway has been contaminated with a manufacturing dye called aniline.

The regional environment department said it believed the cause was ‘organic colouring.’

It said in a statement: ‘On the morning of Thursday 6 February, we received a report that the waters of the Sarandí canal had been dyed red.’

‘Our mobile analysis laboratory was sent to the area and two litres of water were taken as samples for basic chemical analysis and liquid chromatography in order to determine what organic substance was responsible for the discoloration.

‘It is thought to be some kind of organic colouring.’

The is not the river’s first rodeo with a bizarre colour. A local Ducomls, 52, said: ‘We’ve seen it bluish, greenish, pink and purplish, with a slick of grease on the surface that looks like oil.’

Another resident called Silvia told local news channel C5N that at “other times it was yellow, with an acidic smell that makes us sick even in the throat”.

Online newspaper Infobae published a report just last week which showed accidents involving toxic spills had increased by 30% in Buenos Aires.

According to the report, 1,000 liters of corrosive lactic acid, 
500 liters of phosphoric acid and 50 kilos of dichlorinated chlorine were spilled in January.

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