The Canal

It occurred to me the other day that I hadn't ever written about the canal.

It divides Ipanema and Leblon, running from the heavily polluted lagoa to the ocean. It smells a little different every day, and you never know what to expect while crossing it - who you might encounter, what you might see...

 

Sometimes there are people fishing in the water. I tell myself they are fishing for bait. 

There are frequently bulldozers working in the area piling up sand. I'm not sure what this is all about.

Comments

[Stephanie]

I read an article a month or so in O Globo about the water in the Lagoa being more clean and balanced than it has been in a long time. The reason for the bulldozers is because the sand will quickly build up and block the flow of water between Lagoa and the ocean, it also changes the ph of the water amongst other things. I read recently that there is a plan underway to divert the flow of water from Lagoa via large underground pipes underneath Delfim Moreira/Vieira Souto to empty out via an outlet deeper into the ocean, and then that stretch of the beach would return to normal, no more canal dividing at shoreline. I don't know if this has been 100% approved or not but it was recently in the news.

[Luiz Felipe]

Hey DRL,

Stephanie is right. The bulldozers are there to remove the sand that blocks the flow of water to and from the Lagoa. That's happened before some years ago, and it's the most horrible thing. Tens of thousands of fish die in the Lagoa, and start rotting on the surface. The smell is unbearable for a few days, until the authorities and nature get to clean it up.

I'm not sure here, but I think the smell could be different everyday because of the tide. If it's coming in, it's mostly clean seawater, if it's going out, it's Lagoa water, not as clean.

[Daily Rio Life]

Thanks you two! I should really start posting more often about questions I have about things here in Rio - my readers are so resourceful! Every visitor asked me about the canal and I had no answers for them... :S