Ipaam requires floating vessels to have a treatment plant to grant licensing to owners | Amazon

The Amazonas Environmental Protection Institute (Ipaam) requires owners of floating boats on the Tarumã-Açu River, West Zone of Manaus, to install an effluent treatment station in order to grant installation licenses to the owners of the structures. The analysis of environmental license requests was announced at a public hearing on Tuesday (23) and will grant authorization to 80 commercial floating vessels.

Licensing has been suspended since April 2022, by decision of the State Water Resources Council (CERH), which required a Hydrographic Basin Plan in Tarumã-Açu, which was never completed.

Among the main criteria established by Ipaam, the installation of a treatment plant is universal and is necessary for any type of activity that the vessel carries out. In addition to the treatment of effluents, the definitions require the structure’s registration title and navigation safety certificate, which are issued by the Brazilian Navy.

At the time, Ipaam also imposed other duties on owners seeking environmental licenses to operate floating boats:

• Impermeability of kitchen and bathroom environments, and places where there is a motor/generator;
• SAO – water and oil separator;
• Sopep Kit;
• Physicochemical analysis of water;
• Obtain from Ipaam the Grant for the Use of Water Resources to capture surface water and release effluents;
• Control of storage, destination and final disposal of waste; solids (PGRSL), as well as petroleum derivatives.

The institute’s director-president, Juliano Valente, stated at a meeting that the body will send a bill to the Amazonas Legislative Assembly (ALEAM), in order to update the laws already in force and also establish criteria by which owners must adopt to obtain authorization.

On March 26, City Hall began removing floating boats from the Tarumã-Açu shore, in Manaus. The removal complies with a court order that ordered the dismantling, initially, of only the abandoned structures on the site.

The removal of the floating boats from Tarumã-Açu comes in response to the Public Civil Action proposed by the Public Ministry, which claimed concern for the environment and the recovery of degraded areas. Along with this, he also highlighted the need for joint action by bodies linked to the area to reestablish balance and better conditions for the location.

On April 6, 2022, the council decided to suspend the issuance of environmental licenses for the construction and installation of floating boats in the Tarumã-Açu River Basin. Permission is given by the Amazonas Environmental Protection Institute (Ipaam).

The resolution suspended, for a period of 24 months, the issuance of new environmental licenses for the operation of floating boats, a decision motivated by the excess of structures in the basin.

There is still no regulatory framework for the use of the water mirror, a study that will be carried out through the Basin Plan and which will allow for more appropriate zoning for the installation of floating boats.

The Tarumã-Açu River Basin Plan aims to prepare an environmental diagnosis of the river and shore to establish occupation criteria, and understand the support capacity of the basin.