Foamy Waste Fouls Brazil Town

A river polluted with waste from Brazil’s biggest city, Sao Paulo, covered streets in a small colonial town Friday with a thick layer of snow-like foam that emits harmful acidic gas.

A town official said the foam had been affecting Pirapora do Bom Jesus for about a month, but a clogged channel made the foam levels rise especially high, blocking bridges across the Tiete River.

“It is all a dreadful consequence of Sao Paulo city’s pollution,” said Mare Brasilio, a town spokeswoman. “The sulphydric gas caused by the foam provokes respiratory problems among children and elderly people.”

Globo Television showed footage of cars unable to cross the bridges early in the morning, and a bus nearly covered in the white foam after forcing its way through.

The foam lay in courtyards and was blowing in the wind, sticking to roofs and television antennas.

The Sao Paulo state governor traveled to the city to discuss the problem, which apparently derived from the interaction between Tiete River water, which was polluted with human and industrial waste, and water from the local reservoir.