10. Riachuelo River - Argentina

La Matanza River, (in English: The Slaughter River) better known as El Riachuelo (in English: The Little River),
is a water course of 64 km (40 mi) in Argentina, that originates in the Buenos Aires Province and defines
the southern boundary of the Buenos Aires federal district.

The Spanish word boca (in English: river mouth) gives the name to the La Boca neighbourhood, and brought
about the Boca Juniors football club, located near the place where the river flows into the Río de la Plata
estuary.

Bridge on Riachuelo-Matanza river
From its source down to La Noria Bridge on Avenida General Paz, the river is usually referred to as
Río La Matanza,and from that point onwards as Riachuelo.
In its basin of 2,240 km2 (865 sq mi) live approximately 3.5 million people.

The south-easterly storm wind, known as Sudestada, hinders the waters of the Riachuelo from
reaching the  Río de la Plata, producing frequent flooding in low-lying areas like La Boca and Barracas.
Since 1995 a number of flood management projects have been carried out to prevent such occurrences.

The watercourse receives large amounts of industrial waste from the numerous factories along the
reiverside, especially tanneries, which makes the Riachuelo a polluted river.
Among the most dangerous contaminants are heavy metals and waste water from the basin's
saturated layers.

Its main tributaries are the Cañuelas, Chacón and Morales streams in the Province of Buenos Aires,
and the Cildánez stream (currently piped) in the Greater Buenos Aires urban area.

In 1993 President Menem's Secretary of Environment María Julia Alsogaray presented a 3 year project
to clean up the Riachuelo that was approved, but never started, let alone concluded.
The former civil servant, daughter of Álvaro Alsogaray,is being prosecuted for misappropriation
of those public funds.

According to Argentine newspaper Página/12, of the $250 million dollar budget, only $90 million remain.
$6 million were lost in punitive interests, $150 million were destined to unrelated social projects, and only
$1 million was used for the actual cleanup.
Critics have also noted that this cleanup was in vain, as all that was done was to remove sunken ship hulls,
but nothing was doneto prevent newly abandoned ships from sinking.