Rain

12 °C

7.5 m/s

South

Rainy season in Ecuador that accelerated the on-going "regressive erosion" phenomenon at the Coca River in Ecuador. Rain and flooding have been reported. Could have facilitated the flow of the spilled hydrocarbon into the river.

1. Humanitarian aid to affected communities

More than 1.3 million liters (343,000 gallons) of water and more than 18,000 food kits, and has served more than 112 communities and more than 5,000 patients through medical brigades visiting the area.

2. Construction of bypass lines for the pipelines that collapsed
The OCP company built a 1.7-km (1.06-mi) bypass in the eroded area to re-establish crude exports.

Construction of emergency infrastructure to mitigate the regressive erosion of the river

Phase 1 (scheduled to start from the 15th of July, 2020):
- construction of a ramp that will be set in the river;
- expansion of the channel to alleviate the force of the flow.

Phase 2
- commissioning a series of complementary hydrogeological, topographic, and geological studies (to be completed no later than Sept. 15);
- designing the new infrastructure (by Aug. 1, which must be completed by Oct. 1); and
- constructing the infrastructure (start in October, duration between seven and eight months to complete).

Barriers have been developed to prevent hydrocarbons from spreading further down the river into Peru.

The government had set up containment barriers to avoid “major impacts.”

27000

• 27,000 indigenous people had no access to clean water and food (Indigenous villages could not drink the water from the river anymore).
• Chemical burns on the skin due to direct contact with the oil during the initial days of the spill.
• Local communities are facing health concerns due to the use of the river water (for bathing, drinking, and eating) shortly after the oil spill.
• The substances found in the samples that exceed the norm are very toxic for the environment and for the health of populations.
•The presence of heavy metals are a high risk to human health as they accumulate in living beings and become part of food chains, and they can produce skin, respiratory, cardiac, digestive and nervous lesions.
•The oil spill has affected the food sovereignty of the population of the communities due to the contamination of the river water, soil, air, crops, domestic and wild animals.

•Several kilometers of Amazonic rivers have been polluted.
•The oil spills were characterised by environmental groups as the worst environmental catastrophe Ecuador has seen in more than a decade.
•The land around the Coca River has become increasingly unstable due to an accelerated rate of soil erosion, raising concerns about the integrity of nearby infrastructure, including a hydropower dam.
•The recurring oil spills in 2009, 2013 and 2020 — the worst of the three — have tarnished the quality of the water.
•Based on samples from six spots along the affected rivers, pollutants were present in all stages of the water cycle, even rainwater. Some of the oil spilled into the river evaporated and is re-entering the land through rainwater, furthering the cycle of contamination. Signs of rainwater pollution is visible due to changes in its appearance (e.g., Report of Alliance for Human Rights Ecuador, Sept. 2020).
•The presence of hydrocarbons contaminants has led to the loss of fertility of the soil, low crop yields, and possible harmful consequences for living beings, humans and the entire ecosystem.
•There are concerns that if containment operations fail, the oil could reach the Amazon river in Peru (the Natech accident took place 300 km from the Ecuador-Peru border; the Ecuadorian Amazon promptly alerted the Peruvian authorities of the possible contamination of the Peruvian territory).

462 M USD

- Ecuador halted operations of its two crude oil pipelines due to the landslide on 07/04/2020;
- Inventories were used to ensure oil exports and domestic fuel production continue;
- Construction of a temporary pipeline in the affected area to keep the crude flowing.

Ecuador was forced to suspend oil exports for nearly a month. This translates into economic losses for the OCP company in the order of 462 million USD (i.e., average OCP company's oil extraction: 173,086 barrels/day, price of export per barrel: 89 USD, monthly losses due to suspended operations: 462 million USD) .

The tarnished water quality, due to the recurring oil spills (2009, 2013 and 2020), has complicated the Indigenous communities that depend on the river water for food, water and employment (e.g., fishing).

The communities search for justice and reparation from the Ecuadoran state for the oil spills in April 2020. The lawsuit (filed in late April 2020), accuses the two oil companies, SOTE and OCP, along with the environment and energy ministries, of infringing their constitutional rights to clean water, health, food, and nature, as well as the rights of Indigenous people.

The lack of support from national and local authorities has left communities with few options, i.e.,
-communities have turned to using rainwater, but this becomes scarce during the dry season;
-some people have returned to the river to bathe, drink, and wash their clothes;
-new fishing spots are sought deeper in the Napo and adjacent rivers, where Indigenous peoples believe the water is cleaner than in the murky Coca;
-families without transport resort to growing local crops;
-rural communities have been unable to get supplies from cities due the concurrent COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns imposed by the government.

Oil clean-up:

•The cleaning process started after the rupture of the pipelines/oil spills and it entered its ending phase one week later, on 14 April 2020.

•The effectiveness of the clean-up efforts were inspected 5 months after the accident in six communities on the banks of the Napo and Coca rivers in Sucumbíos and Orellana provinces. It was concluded there were levels of hydrocarbons alongside heavy metals like lead, nickel and vanadium from the samples examined.

• humanitarian aid to communities downstream (by the pipeline operators OCP Ecuador and Petroecuador);
• works towards halting the oil before it reaches the Amazon (by the pipeline operators OCP Ecuador and Petroecuador);
• remediate environmental damage (emergency teams);

• rebuild an almost 2km section of piping (emergency teams);
• construction of a temporary pipeline in the affected area (government) to keep the crude flowing and reconnect Ecuador’s economy to the world (emergency teams);

As opposed to Ecuadoran government and several geologists, experts argued that one of the possible triggering mechanisms for the regressive erosion of the riverbed, associated with that the Natech accident, was the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair Dam 20 kilometers upstream from the San Rafael Waterfall.

Thus, it can be concluded that careful consideration should be taken for:

1. The design and construction of hydroelectric plants in unstable terrains, considering the joint collaboration among engineers, geologists, hydrologists;

2. The retention of sediments from hydroelectric plants and its potential impact to the soil erosion in the surrounding area.

Raising public awareness on how to respond during and in the aftermath of a Natech accident.

1. The protection of the environment and human rights should be enforced by the law.

2. Preventive measures should be put in place by government and oil companies once evidence is provided for an imminent disaster (e.g.,
evidence shows that the government and oil companies were well-advised that increased soil erosion along the riverbanks could cause a pipeline rupture).

3. Early warning and alert systems should become available to the affected communities.

The majority of the clean-up process ended just one week after the rupture of the pipelines/oil spills, on 14 April 2020, but inspections after 5 months revealed high levels of hydrocarbons alongside heavy metals like lead, nickel and vanadium (from the samples examined).
Based on this fact, it is recommended that longer periods for the cleaning process should be required, depending on the amount and extent of oil spills.

1. Alert systems should be put in place to warn downriver communities about contamination from the spill.
2. Downriver communities should be consulted on the companies’ remediation plan.
3. The public should be informed about the completion of the de-contamination activities for the safe use of the environmental resources.