ENVIROMENTAL PROBLEMS IN RIOHACHA - LA GUAJIRA

We have several enviromental problems in Riohacha that is my hometown, I'm going to mention three of them:

1. 

Riohacha’s dump: Riohacha generates about 100 tons per day of garbage which are dumped into a landfill located five kilometers from town on the road to Valledupar and that does not meet a minimum standards of environmental management. The dump is causing serious pollution of soil and air resources.In the same place recycling activities are performed by the indigenous communities with a high participation of children without any protection or prevention in the sound management of solid waste deposited there.

The trash going there do not have any type of treatment or control, the dump doesn’t have a limited area, which causes the relaxation of them in a disorderly manner, even by road from Riohacha to Valledupar. Recyclers and living around the site, make indiscriminate burning of waste, increasing sources of pollution and environmental damage in the área.

2. Sewage system: A river of product dumping wastewater sewers empty into the sea at the height of the sector known in Riohacha as the New Lighthouse, as a result of bad sanitary sewer system that exists in this capital.

3. Laguna Salada: This is where the independence of Riohacha took place, thanks to Jose Prudencio Padilla, but is now damaged and people throw garbage and sewage there.

Another big problem we have in my region is Cerrejon, The mine has caused a huge environmental pollution and serious health problems. A multitude of animal and plant species are threatened with extinction; including some important medicinal plants and other plants used in traditional rituals. A very serious problem of mine is the huge amount of dust that rises above all due to the explosions that occur daily, which kills plants and causes respiratory disease in humans as silicosis and rashes.