Published TUESDAY May 13, 2025: 'TOXIC WATERS: Argentina's Rotten River' by ZUMA Press award winning photo-journalist Igor Wagner: Very few locals call it water. This is Riachuelo de la Matanza in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. The 40-mile river served as the capital's dumping ground for more than 100 years, mid-19th century chroniclers described it as ''rotten'' and has long been considered one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Thousands of businesses, such as tanneries, chemical plants and factories, are situated in the basin, while an estimated 4.5 million people call the area home. Sewers, household waste, old cars and boats, virtually anything fit for a dump went into the river. The result is an environmental and health crisis spanning generations. Residents and campaigners now fear a new ruling on the toxic Matanza-Riachuelo basin will send a message that environmental protection is not a priority. Welcome to 'TOXIC WATERS: Argentina's Rotten River'
© zReportage.com Issue #989 Story of the Week: Published TUESDAY May 13, 2025: 'TOXIC WATERS: Argentina's Rotten River' by ZUMA Press award winning photo-journalist Igor Wagner: Very few locals call it water. This is Riachuelo de la Matanza in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. The 40-mile river served as the capital's dumping ground for more than 100 years, mid-19th century chroniclers described it as ''rotten'' and has long been considered one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Thousands of businesses, such as tanneries, chemical plants and factories, are situated in the basin, while an estimated 4.5 million people call the area home. Sewers, household waste, old cars and boats, virtually anything fit for a dump went into the river. The result is an environmental and health crisis spanning generations. Residents and campaigners now fear a new ruling on the toxic Matanza-Riachuelo basin will send a message that environmental protection is not a priority. Welcome to 'TOXIC WATERS: Argentina's Rotten River'

View of houses in the poor Zavaleta neighborhood over the Riachuelo River. In 2004, residents of the river basin, filed a lawsuit against the city, government and industrial polluters along the river and demanded action. The Supreme Court's ruling ordered the government, via the Autoridad de Cuenca Matanza Riacheulo (ACUMAR), to improve quality of life and prevent further damage. Residents now fear a new ruling on the toxic river basin will send a message that environmental protection is not a priority.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

A broken toilet lies dumped on the banks of the heavily polluted Riachuelo river. Nearby residents throw their waste into the river and much of it is exposed when the waters recede.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

A school teacher looks at the houses in the poor neighborhoods on the banks of the polluted river during an informational boat trip together with other educators in Buenos Aires. Environmental management company ACUMAR carries out these excursions for teachers and educational institutions in order to raise awareness of socio-environmental issues.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

An ACUMAR river cleaning boat circulates the Riachuelo from one end to the other, collecting waste from the surface, as part of the squads that control the waste dumped by neighboring industries. The most polluted river in Buenos Aires is facing new difficulties due to the closure of the agency responsible for its sanitation (ACUMAR).
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

Aerial view of an industrial complex in front of the Riachuelo river. On the other side of the river is the poor Zavaleta neighborhood. Sewers, household waste, old cars and boats, virtually anything fit for a dump went into the river. The result is an environmental and health crisis spanning generations.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

Toxic waste mixed with plastic bottles, trash and straws float with the water flow of the Riachuelo River. The 40-mile (64km) river served as the capital's dumping ground for more than 100 years, mid-19th century chroniclers described it as 'rotten' and has long been considered one of the most polluted rivers in the world.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

Factories with cranes line the banks of the Riachuelo river in Buenos Aires. The area residents are facing new difficulties due to the closure of the agency responsible for its sanitation ACUMAR. In 2008, Argentina's supreme court issued a historic ruling demanding the cleanup of the Matanza-Riachuelo river in Buenos Aries, considered one of the most polluted in the world.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

A garbage worker sorts through a pile of waste lying on the river bank in contact with the water. In poorer neighborhoods, some workers make some extra money by selling salvageable items they find among the discarded waste.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

A woman stands on the rubble strewn ground in the courtyard of her home on the Riachuelo river bank. She is in the process of relocation by the Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires due the living conditions and sanitation issues in the poor neighborhood where she lives. Residents living along the riverbank, which snakes around Buenos Aires' southern edge, complain of skin rashes, headaches, breathing problems and vomiting.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

Arial view of a boat passing homes in the poor neighborhood of Zavaleta on the banks of the Riachuelo River. Thousands of businesses, such as tanneries, chemical plants and factories, are situated in the basin, while an estimated 4.5 million people call the area home.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

An ACUMAR boat pilot navigates his vessel collecting floating refuse and cleaning the polluted Riachuelo River during a routine control operation.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

Sanitation workers from ACUMAR operate a crane boat with which they remove waste from the surface of the Riachuelo river, during the daily cleanup up.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

A husband looks over the fence at his wife standing at the entrance to their unfinished home on the riverbank. They are waiting for the Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires to relocate them to safer and cleaner housing. Residents living along the riverbank, which snakes around Buenos Aires' southern edge, complain of skin rashes, headaches, breathing problems and vomiting.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

A pile of waste floats on the Riachuelo river, trapped by green hoses laid by ACUMAR. Non-degradable waste such as plastic bottles, trash and straws are collected daily from the rivers mirky toxic waters.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

During bad weather polluted water from large sewer pipes flows unabated into the Riachuelo de la Matanza river in Argentina's Buenos Aires province.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

Gray clouds above the black waters and houses in the poor Zavaleta neighborhood along the Rieachuelo River. Residents living along the riverbank, which snakes around Buenos Aires' southern edge, complain of skin rashes, headaches, breathing problems and vomiting.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

A resident looks out from the entrance to his home, where he lives with his wife in an unfinished house in a poor neighborhood on the Riachuelo riverbank. They are waiting for the Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires to relocate them to safer and cleaner housing.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire

Bubbles form on the surface of the dark river water when the gases produced by the waste rise to the surface. Toxic wastes such as lead, fecal matter, sewerage, are found at the bottom of the river.
© Igor Wagner/ZUMA Press Wire