A court in Ecuador has ruled that pollution has violated the rights of a river that runs through the capital, Quito. The city government appealed the unusual ruling, which is based on an article of Ecuador’s Constitution that recognizes the rights of natural features like the Machángara River. Activists who filed the complaint said Sunday the decision is “historic.” The court ruled that while appeals proceed, the government will have to come up with a plan to clean up the Machángara. The city of 2.6 million people dumps all sorts of effluents and contaminants into the Machángara, which starts high in the Andes mountains.
