The Dominican Republic made headlines about it’s beaches this week-- and it wasn’t for it’s miles of pristine tropical white-sand beaches. It was for waves upon waves of trash that had engulfed Montesinos Beach in the capital, Santo Domingo. The government deployed hundreds of city workers with help from volunteers to tackle the ecological mess.
As part of Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 Olympic bid, the olympic committee made a couple of large promises, one of them the clean up of Guanabara Bay in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The Guanabara Bay will be one of the main features of the opening ceremony and will hold competitions for all sailing and rowing events. City officials promised to reduce waste and pollution in the bay by 80% but little progress has been made.1 If you ask any resident of Rio de Janeiro if the bay is fit for competition, or even display, they would confidently say no.
The Bogotá River is a major source of water for Colombians in the province of Cundinamarca, which surrounds the country’s capital. It flows from the northeastern border of the area, skirts around Bogotá, and drops 515 feet at the magnificent Tequendama Falls. The Bogotá ends in southwest Cundinamarca, where it drains into the Magdalena River. Unfortunately, the Tequendama Falls have been known as “the largest wastewater falls in the world,” according to Canada’s International Development Research Center.
