HotéisRIO, in partnership with ACIR (Commercial and Industrial Association of the Recreio and Vargens Region), organized the 18th Environmental Forum on December 7, focusing on the regions of Barra, Recreio, Vargens and Jacarepaguá. The main theme of the event was the depollution of the lagoon system in the western zone and highlighted ways to improve the recovery and responsible use of the environment.

According to the president of ACIR and HotéisRIO, Alfredo Lopes, the forum aims to draw the attention of the population to environmental issues and raise awareness in society. “It is necessary to balance the demands of economic growth with the environmental question. We need to be able to build an administration model that serves both parties. Considering that tourism is the primary vocation of our city, we cannot suffer from the unpleasant odors that sometimes affect our region, just as it is not possible to prevent the movement of people. The solution is to align public power and private initiative”.

The President of the National Institute for the Environment, Felipe Campello, present at the opening, confirmed: “It is important to reconcile economic growth and preservation of the environment. This is not an environmental discourse: the city must be prepared to react quickly to possible problems, such as floods, which compromise the development of activities”.

For the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Carlos Caiado, the participation of the municipality in a forum like this is essential. “Until recently, sanitation was treated as a state issue. However, we created a sanitation council in the Chamber and succeeded in getting the town hall involved in the file. A complex urban area like ours must have a direction, through a master plan”.

The content of the forum was debated in a single panel with the presentation of the oceanographer, coastal and environmental engineer and professor at the Faculty of Oceanography of the UERJ, David Zee – Oceanographer, with the title “Revitalization of the lagoon system of Barra da Tijuca, Recreio and Jacarepaguá, generator of economic development for the region.” According to him, in the 1960s the government built roads and canals in order to provide access and habitability to the West Zone region. However, over the past 40 years, maintenance has not been adequate, leading to problems. “The Sernambetiba canal, for example, overflows frequently. However, just dragging it down is not enough. clear the exit to the sea, on the beach of Macumba”, he explains. The teacher underlines that it is necessary more than to protect the mouth. “The solution is to preserve the beach, which was created by nature to protect the coast.Otherwise, even with the e dredging, there is a risk of overflowing, in the event of heavy rains, and of flooding the region with the water of the canal, today unfortunately polluted, which multiplies the diseases and puts pressure on the health system public”.

Currently, the town hall is dredging the Sernambetiba channel, known as Rio Morto, to provide drainage for the Vargens region. Iguá, the new service concessionaire, is responsible for cleaning the entire lagoon system in the region.

Barra Deputy Mayor Raphael Lima pointed out that what is being done in the Sernambetiba Canal, also known as Rio Morto, is a full dredging process, removing silt and sediment from the canal bed. . “More than 80 million cubic meters will be removed. The idea is to avoid flooding and make navigation possible, thanks to the increased draft. In fact, there is a movement towards increasing lagoon transport and we are counting on Iguá, which has done important work in the renovation of wastewater pumping stations, to help us make it possible”.

This was the 18th edition of the Environment Forum, identified by the local business community as an important space for debate and trends for the sustainable development of the region.