Venezuela Removed 140,000 Tons of Waste From Lake Maracaibo

On Monday, Environmental Minister Josue Lorca announced that Venezuela has extracted more than 140,000 tons of waste from Lake Maracaibo.

RELATED:

Venezuelan Oil Company PDVSA Signs Agreement With Indonesia

In July 2023, President Nicolas Maduro launched a plan to decontaminate the estuary, which has been affected by oil leaks and the proliferation of toxic cyanobacteria and blue–green algae.

"We have collected over 140,000 tons of solid waste from Lake Maracaibo," Lorca said and explained that these wastes are impregnated with oil.

With the help of the company Petrolium of Venezuela (PDVSA), however, the waste was sent to management centers where it is disposed of according to strict environmental parameters.

The plan also carried out over 150 inspections of plants and industrial areas near the lake to prevent discharges into the water that could favor the growth of bacteria or any type of algae.

Last year, President Maduro announced the decontamination plan for Lake Maracaibo and indicated that it would include several ministries and at least a thousand officials.

In the affected area, the authorities have activated operations such as "Fish for Your Plastic", an intervention that has allowed the population to extract tons of solid waste from the waters. Kilometers of oil pipelines have also been replaced to minimize crude leaks into the lake.

In 2023, environmental organizations such as Mapache Ecoaventura and Fitlosophy rescued a couple of dozen animals from the contaminated areas of Lake Maracaibo.