A video of the cleaning of the pools at Praia das Palmeiras, in Santa Cruz, in which workers are seen throwing the debris removed from the pools into the sea during the night, is generating several criticisms on the Internet.
Internet users accuse the Municipality of Santa Cruz of having committed an “environmental attack” by removing sediment from the interior of the pool and throwing it into the sea.
In the video that is circulating on the Internet, it is possible to see several workers filling buckets with various debris that are then thrown into the sea.
The sediments appear in bunches, ready to be collected. The works take place during the night and at least nine people appear in the video in this operation.
Internet users accuse the camera of “environmental attack”, point to the date of June 14, 2023 as the night the video was recorded, and stress that the workers “sent all the land to the sea”.
Contacted by JM, a source from the Municipality of Santa Cruz confirms that there were sediments thrown into the sea, but “only the sand” that the sea brought.
The same source explained that the sediments that were inside the pools were brought by the rough sea during the Óscar depression, last week.
He also said that whoever is carrying out the cleaning – the work has not yet finished – is “a subcontracted company” by the Municipality of Santa Cruz. The Chamber guarantees that it was also “surprised” by the methods used by the company, but confirms that only the sand was thrown into the sea. Larger solid sediments were placed in black bags to be removed to another location. At this moment, there will already be 60 bags waiting for collection.
The same source also said that if the chamber had had prior knowledge, that “the decision would probably not have been this”, and adds that the return of sand to the sea “is not really an environmental attack. It would have been if it hadn’t come from the sea”, he claims.
Regarding the circumstance that the video shows that the work was done during the night, which internet users suspect was so that no one could see that they were throwing sediments into the sea, the Chamber source denies this theory and guarantees that it was a question of “urgency” the work took place at that time.
A source from the municipality said that as the council was in a hurry to proceed with the cleaning and the company was only available to act immediately after office hours, they decided to work late into the night.
At this time, the pools are still closed, but the municipality hopes that they will reopen soon.
The pools were already ready for the bathing season, but the Óscar depression will require repainting and an analysis of the pools’ operating mechanisms, to assess whether any equipment has been compromised.