Along the dark waters of Ecuador’s Guayaquil Estuary, volunteers got bogged down in mud dragging wooden platforms. On these rafts travel the plants that could save the 70 kilometers of the mouth from pollution.
Environmental engineer Angela Cevallos has made it her mission to save the estuary from pollution thanks to these “floating islands” loaded with buds of the red mangrove, the typical mangrove tree recognizable thanks to its imposing roots.
“These islets are the means of transport and the mangrove cuttings will do their job,” explains Ms Cevallos, head of this project at the Espiritu Santo de Guayaquil private university, from which she graduated.
For decades, tons of garbage, excrement and heavy metals have been thrown into the waters of Ecuador’s main port, where 2.8 million people live.
Today the arm of the river is dying under the effect of pollution. Yet Cevallos believes the estuary can still be saved. “The mangrove is a noble habitat, it can regenerate and absorb pollutants,” she says.
“Guayaquil grew up in front of this estuary, we cannot let it die,” said architect Patricio Rosero, in charge of the design of the rafts.
The volunteers carry the platforms on their shoulders one by one up to one arm of the mouth. The ten rafts almost two meters long are tied with ropes made from banana peels.
– I swim –
Angela Cevallos, 23, with glasses on her nose and white boots on her feet, sinks into the greenish mud to slowly push the rafts.
23 red mangrove plants are encrusted on each island which will help reforest the mangroves. In four months the seeds should form thin trunks capable, in theory, of absorbing pollutants.
Fifty years ago, fishermen took sea bass and sea bass in their mouths. Vintage photos show children having fun in the rock pools and the estuary has also been the scene of swimming competitions and rowing boat races.
“My father took us with my three brothers to Puerto Liza. It was there that he taught us to swim, the water was crystal clear and fresh,” recalls Lucenia Haro, a retired teacher.
It was around this time that major real estate projects began, pushed by politicians vying for voters.
Whole neighborhoods were built in haste, with no sewage system. Even today, the sewer pipes lead directly into the estuary where 300,000 people live, of which several thousand are indigent.
“The clandestine connections have been closed and redirected to the sewer system,” explains Maria Fernanda Rumbea, environmental manager at the town hall.
Between May 2019 and July 2022, according to the municipality, over 34,900 tons of waste were recovered from the estuary.
According to Ms. Cevallos’ analysis, in the sector where the platforms have been placed, the concentration of fecal coliforms, bacteria that contaminate the water, is 1,000 times higher than the authorized standard.
– A decade of effort –
This is not the first time that platforms have floated on the estuary.
In 2014, the Ministry of the Environment bet on floating metal structures, a failure due to lack of maintenance.
This year, the École supérieure polytechnique du littoral (ESPOL) launched another initiative to reforest the estuary with algae.
“We want to know if algae can improve the germination rate of mangroves,” explains Edwin Jiménez, a researcher at the university.
In parallel with this initiative and that of the floating islands, the municipality of Guayaquil has devised its own program to safeguard the estuary.
A purification plant has been built for the treatment of waste water, explains the municipal director of the environment.
When the evening falls and the tide goes out, the nauseating smell reminds us of the sad fate of the estuary.
Despite everything, the arm of the river and its vegetation resist and remains the only rainwater drainage system capable of avoiding catastrophic floods, frequent during the rainy season.
“If it weren’t for the estuary and its stinking trees, dozens of houses and buildings would have long since disappeared,” says Jiménez.
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