Sabesp admits to releasing untreated sewage into the Tietê River to empty a ruptured pipeline on the Marginal Tietê highway, according to website.

247 - Sabesp (São Paulo State Basic Sanitation Company) is dumping untreated sewage directly into the Tietê River in the northern part of São Paulo. This controversial idea is a way to empty the ruptured pipeline on the Marginal Tietê highway. The dumping is happening between the local and central lanes of the highway, in the direction of Castelo Branco, in front of Avenida Engenheiro Caetano Álvares.

According to the G1 PortalThe company admitted to dumping sewage into the river. Engineer Amauri Pollachi, who worked for Sabesp for 30 years, quantified the volume dumped – approximately 216 million liters per day, or 86 Olympic-sized swimming pools (50 meters).

“The crater was formed from the collapse of a large pipeline, which is an interceptor; it receives all the sewage from the northern region of São Paulo. It's pure sewage, removed from the ruptured pipeline. An enormous quantity. You can see a stain entering the river. This can be characterized as an environmental crime.”

The engineer explained that direct discharge was the solution found to avoid overflow. But there were less environmentally damaging technical alternatives, he said. "It would be feasible for Sabesp to install a parallel pipeline to eliminate the collapsed one and install a new pipeline."

The company confirmed that it is diverting sewage to other structures as a way to empty the damaged pipeline. "Sabesp clarifies that, in order to diagnose and repair the underground network on the Tietê Marginal Highway, professionals will need to enter the pipeline," it stated in a note.

"To ensure this is done safely, it was necessary to redirect the sewage flow to other structures in order to empty the pipeline in that section. This is the only technically viable alternative for carrying out the work on the site," he added.