The New York Times, February 2025
A stream in a suburb of Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, turned bright red this week, prompting residents to express concern that industrial chemicals could be to blame. Residents of Sarandí, about six miles south of the capital, told local news outlets that chemicals from several factories and tanneries in the area could have changed the color of the stream, which flows into the Río de la Plata, a major body of water between Argentina and Uruguay.
Rivers in the area have a history of contamination problems. The Matanza-Riachuelo River basin, for example, has been called one of the most polluted waterways in Latin America. Officials have announced major public works projects to prevent sewage and industrial discharges from entering the basin. The environmental ministry for the Province of Buenos Aires said in a statement that it responded on Thursday morning to a report that the stream in Sarandí was red and that it had taken water samples for testing. It said that the freakish hue could have been the result of “some type of organic dye.”
