Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Amazon River
Report
Aqua Waters Organisation
Naomi Lamaury
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................1.0
River System Overview
Key characteristics ........................................................................................................................... 2.1
Use of river ....................................................................................................................................... 2.2
Map of river system..........................................................................................................................2.3
River System Issues
Identification of key issues .............................................................................................................. 3.1
Who and how are affected by key issues ......................................................................................... 3.2
Management Strategy
Recommmendations........................................................................................................................ 4.1
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 4.2
Appendices
Appendix 1 (Action Plan)................................................................................................................... 5.1
Appendix 2 (Capture Sheet) 5.2
1. Introduction
There are approximately two hundreds major rivers on earth with roughly one thousand tributaries
each. River systems are in danger from humans not being considerate about the environment all
over the world. Everyone and everything in the environment of the river is negatively affected by
projects for human uses. Water pollution is done because of laziness, cheapness or neediness and
greediness of resources. There are different types of pollution, for example eutrophication, oil leaks,
urbanisation etc. The Amazon River is a perfect example of being impacted by human activities and
created water pollution. I am writing this report to research and find out how water pollution affects
the Amazon River and creates conflict.
(geology.com, Ref. 2)
(rainforest.mongobay.com, Ref. 1)
Chevron decided not to follow the important procedures because they made a profit, but the
indigenous and the environment suffered from Chevrons decisions. There were increasing rates of
cancer (larynx cancer 30x higher, bile duct cancer 18x higher, stomach cancer 4.6x higher, liver and
melanoma cancer 15x higher and leukemia 2.6x higher), miscarriages, brain damage, respiratory
problems, kidney damage, liver damage, bone marrow damage, blood poisoning, stomach irritation,
skin irritation and death. There is an estimated amount of 1400 people having died from diseases
caused from the oil. The indigenous also often live off agriculture and fishing but so many species in
the river have died, the soil is not fertilised anymore and animals that are used to sell cannot drink
or eat as much because all the water and soil are un-eatable.
Chevrons reputation was ruined since the day the information got out of the oil leakage and lots of
people fought for justice against Chevron, this triggered Chevron to leave the country of Ecuador
immediately. Chevron was forced to pay $40 million dollars in 1998 for the remediation of the river
and soil but they just dumped soil on top of the oil which meant that the oil would continue to
contaminate the soil. According to forest communities, this was less than 1% of the cost that
Chevron should have paid. Later in 2011, Chevron were supposed to pay $19 billion but the cost
were reduced to $9.5 by the Ecuador
Supreme Court. A plaintiffs are going after
Chevrons assets in Canada, Brazil and
Argentina, to try and force Chevron to stop
producing oil. Still now, samples of soil have
been taken and there are high level of toxins
which are extremely dangerous (barium,
benzene, cadmium, chromium, ethyl
benzene, lead, mercury, sulphur dioxide,
sulfuric acid, toluene, vanadium, xylene and
Area operated by Texaco between 1964-1990 (Ref.3)
zinc.
4. Management Strategy
4.1 Recommendations
A mixture of Hexane and Acetone (50% and 50%) creating a solvent makes it possible to extract the
hydrocarbons from the soil. It also removes the resins and asphaltenes which are more than 50% of
the oil pollutants. The solvent was firstly added to the soil and after five minutes the oil had been
dissolved by the solvent. The soil and solvent were then separated by: The contact between the
phases was promoted by magnetic agitation and the separation was done by centrifuging in tubes at
5,000 rpm for 5 min. More than 86% of resins was extracted and more than 60% of asphaltenes. In
conclusion, approximately 95% of TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbon) was removed by using a ratio
of 3:1 (ml:g).
A solution for projects in the future not to go wrong as it did this time, an Environmental Impact
Assessment should be carried out before these project occur. This makes sure that the next
company follows the proper procedures. The potential receptors should be identified, as should the
negative and positive impacts. The resulting effects to the receptors of the impacts and finally a
mitigation strategy (how to lessen the negative impacts that could take place).
4.2 Conclusion
The Amazon River is one of the largest rivers in the world and the strongest but is suffering from
human activities. We make use of the rivers resources without being careful and make the
environment suffer because we dont think about the consequences. Deforestation, pollution,
urbanisation, gold-mining, climate change are all factors which affect the river and are all caused by
us. The indigenous living to who the Amazon River truly belongs to are greatly suffering and so is the
environment and animals. The indigenous are in danger from diseases and theyre income they used
to have from fishing and agriculture is also in danger. Conflict was created between the environment
(and indigenous) and the companies that cause the pollution, There are solutions to these problems
and although they may be expensive, it is worth it to revive the Amazon River.
5. Appendices
How does pollution impact the Amazon river basin and create conflict?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Methods to be used in
the investigation
I will create a capture sheet, with all the sub-questions written on it and in
addition, an extra information part. The information will be recorded with bullet
points but all the detail should be there. Depending on the questions, different
amount of articles or videos will be accessed. I will use around one or two per
introduction sub-questions and for the rest of the sub-questions, I will use two
e.g. describe the capture to three.
sheet. How will it be laid
I then will take all the information and out it in an essay format on Word
out? Will you include
Microsoft, and add a map and a few photos.
your sub-questions?
How many websites will
you access per subquestion? Why?
Identify the relevant
sources/evidence that
you will use
Record the works
cited.
COMPLETION
DATE
Action Plan
23 Nov.
24 Nov.
24 Nov.
24 Nov.
24 Nov.
24 Nov.
25 Nov.
Uses of River?
26 Nov.
General Issues
26 Nov.
27 Nov.
rd
COMPLETE?
th
th
th
th
th
th
th
th
th
th
th
th
27 Nov.
29 Nov.
th
th
29 Nov.
Conclusion
29 Nov.
2 Dec.
2 Dec.
Add diagrams
2 Dec.
Works Cited
9 Dec.
Hand in essay:
9 Dec.
nd
nd
nd
th
th
I followed my action plan thoroughly and I did this by using my plan with the
steps and dates. This was useful because I stayed organized by following it. All
my sub-questions were answered and used in my essay.
Evaluation
How well did you follow
the Action Plan?
5.2 Capture Sheet
1,100 tributaries
Starts in the Peruvian Andes, at a height of 5,598m
Starts as small tributary called Carhuasanta
Amount of Discharge?
Chevron case, Pablo Fajardo is the voice for more than 30,000 indigenous people
Over 3000 recognized fish species in the river
Transportation to the inner parts of Brazil and the northern half of South America
Bathing and drinking (dangerous for drinking now a days)
Preparing food
Food (fish) have been for 2 decades
Deforestation
Urbanization
Water pollution (nations which river flows through are still developing, therefore unable to measure
the pollution amounts)
Climate change > change in hydrological cycle
Gold mining
Over-harvesting
Increasing rates of cancer, miscarriage, brain damage, respiratory problems, kidney damage, liver
damage, bone marrow damage, blood poisoning, stomach irritation, skin irritation and death
Cancer rates: 30 times higher for larynx, 18 times higher for bile duct, 4.6 times higher for
stomach, 15 times higher for liver cancer and melanoma and 2.6 times higher for leukemia
(children)
Liquid oil on jungle floor, water, absorbed by soil which is used for farming
People living off agriculture and fishing, is hard for them
Agriculture for like cows, they die because of the water and plants
Estimated 1400 people died from oil caused diseases
$40 billion paid by chevron to fix areas which were affected 1998
$19 billion in 2011 was first owed by the Lago Agrio, but was reduced to $9.5 billion by Ecuador
Supreme Court
banned from Ecuador 1992
Plaintiffs (person that brings an a case against another in court) are going after Chevrons assets
in Canada, Brazil and Argentina
Government can create donation site to fund way to extract the oil from the soil and research
Remediation of soil
Solvent extraction: technique to remove dangerous chemicals in polluted materials
For treating soils which have a lot of resins and asphaltenes and are heavy fractions
10 grams of contaminated soil was added to different amounts of solvents (ml:g-2:1, 3:1, and
6:1)(=60ml, 90ml, 180ml)
The contact between the phases was promoted by magnetic agitation and the separation was
done by centrifuging in tubes at 5,000 rpm for 5 min.
Both were mixed for 20minsm separated by
Solvent was then removed from samples
6:1 ratio was the best
Oil dissolves in solvent
After 0.5min, removal of resins and asphaltenes reached 86.9% and 60.5%
Extra:
For 9 years, chevron fought so that the case would be in Ecuador not the united states so that
they could cheat their way
Paid 40 million dollars but just duped soil on top of oil which continued contaminating the soil
Less than 1 percent of the cost than a good clean up should have been according to the forest
communities
Paid 5.3 million dollars to pressure us government to cut trade preferences to Ecuador
This is for revenge for the Ecuadorian government to have let the citizens make a case against
Chevron
Chevron had paid experts to make proof of no cancer
61 scientists worldwide are against chevron and their scientific study
Diego Borja was chevron consultant and was caught trying to bribe judge
Chevron moved him to an incognito location in the us and paid to do nothing
Military official was pressured in Ecuador (manuel bravo) to write fake report to stop inspection
in one of chevrons most dangerous toxic waste sites
Samples of soils have been taken and high levels of toxins are still included (barium, benzene,
cadmium, chromium, ethyl benzene, lead, mercury, particulates, sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid,
toluene, vanadium, xylene and zinc)
Chevron videos leaked of chevron technicians trying to find spots in the soil where crude oil
hadnt touched but they had to try 4 times where the oil should not have attained
This was to give clean samples of soil to submit to the court as evidence, acting as if it was just
a random spot.