PBH wants to make it possible for water sports to be practiced at Pampulha Lake, says secretary

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A Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte pretende tornar a Lagoon of Pampulha apt for practicing water sports. The information was given by the municipal secretary of Works and Infrastructure, Leandro César Pereira .

On this Friday (27), the secretary participated in a public hearing at Commission on Environment, Animal Defense, and Urban Policy to the Belo Horizonte City Council (CMBH). To the councilors, he explained that an image of a deteriorated Pampulha Lake does not correspond to the current reality—a scenario that, according to the municipality, is very different from that recorded in 2014.

" In 2014, we had a green algae near the Church of Pampulha. That was an assault on the heritage, and today we no longer see that. It is the result of a lot of engineering, investment, and persistence in a strategy that brought us to this point. The meeting at the City Council, requested by the councilor Augusto Unger (PL) focused on discussing the recovery of the body of water. In July 2024, the The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) filed an environmental civil action lawsuit Reclaiming a 17.4-hectare section of the lagoon, where the water surface disappeared after being completely filled in by companies contracted by PBH.

Related Articles According to Leandro César, there is currently an effective contract for water treatment, aiming to maintain its quality within Class 3 parameters.

Another contract, still under development, deals with dredging — a continuous process of removing sediments and residues from the bottom of the lagoon. "If we leave the Pampulha Lagoon without any kind of input, it tends to die. One cannot expect an urban lake, without investments in water quality, to maintain itself as if it were in a natural condition," the secretary pointed out.

Damião's billings

The secretary acknowledged that there are still issues to be corrected. During the hearing, he highlighted three points that continue to cause discomfort:

• The first, according to him, is not a bad smell coming from the lake, but rather a sewage transition box from Copasa, located near the Pampulha Airport. "The Company is currently making changes. We hope that with the work, we can reverse this old impression that the bad smell comes from the lake," he said.
• The second point is near the exit of Avenida Fleming. According to the secretary, the bad smell there is caused by the cleaning of grease traps and improper disposal of waste by bars and restaurants in the area. PBH is promoting awareness and inspection actions to prevent these wastes from being discharged into Lagoa da Pampulha.
• The third point of attention refers to the waters of the Ressaca and Sarandi streams.

" We believe that we will reverse this scenario as Copasa succeeds in the policy of intercepting and treating sewage across the entire basin, conducted in partnership with PBH. ". According to the secretary, considering the current water quality, the mayor's expectation is Álvaro Damião (The Union Brazil) believes that the city should have the conditions to open the lagoon for public navigation. "We believe this is possible, and the mayor has already ordered that we move forward with studies to make this use of the space viable," he said.

In June 2016, the then mayor of Belo Horizonte, Márcio Lacerda , I had announced the intention to allow water sports in Pampulha Lake starting in 2017, which ended up not materializing. The full statement completes nine years this Saturday (28).

Most recently, in May of this year, Mayor Damião was the first to navigate the lagoon in 30 years. During the event, revealed the desire to open the promenade to the public by the end of 2025 .

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