"This is what's killing us all," said Eduardo, an inhabitant of the poor neighborhood of Villa Inflamable, pointing to the Dock Sud petrochemical center, alleging oil refineries tip chemical waste straight into the water.

Riachuelo, a waterway of 40 miles (64 kilometers) along with its main Matanza tributary runs from western Buenos Aires into the Rio de la Plata and is Argentina's worst environmental stain.

Eduardo works in a neighborhood cooperative trying to clean the river, piled high with junk and the detritus of human existence. Every day, members carry out the grim task of collecting plastic bottles and empty jerrycans from the murky, smelly waters.

The Supreme Court called for an official plan to clean up the basin in 2008, but recent public hearings showed the goals have not always been met.

Open rubbish dumps have even increased in the area, from 141 in 2008 to 348 at the end of 2010 when they were due to have disappeared, according to an audience in March.

But 59 boats which were rotting in the river bed for years have now been removed, the last on April 12.

"That's in no way a cosmetic change," said Juan Jose Mussi, president of the Matanza-Richauelo Basin Authority which unites officials from all levels of government.

But a sickening stench still wafts from the stagnant waters and factories over Villa Inflamable, where humble houses and mud streets swiftly become bogged down on rainy days.

"I can't open the windows of my house due to the smell, though it's a bit better now because of the cooperative cleaning the river," said Nancy, a mother of three who lives in Villa 26, a nearby settlement known as Villa Richauelo.

La Boca, a tourist area of colorful painted houses and tango dancers on the streets near the country's famous La Bombonera soccer stadium, also lies near the still waters of the Riachuelo.

"Getting to the bottom of the Riachuelo is like sinking into a dark, frozen yogurt," according to Guillermo Balbi, a professional diver since 1967.

Some four million people live around the waterway's basin, including some 9,000 on a 35-meter (yard) stretch close to its banks.

"The Riachuelo is the symbol of pollution in an urban area," said Felix Cariboni from environmental watchdog Greenpeace.

"Most of the chemical substances thrown in its waters still lie in the riverbed. We're talking about highly toxic heavy metals like mercury, chrome and lead."

The primary healthcare center in the Maria Elena district, in the southwest of Buenos Aires, receives 15 to 20 people daily, many with skin infections and or lung problems, said Nestor Oliveri, the doctor in charge.

"My son was born with a respiratory problem and this place makes it worse. Sometimes he doesn't go to school because his chest hurts," said Patricia, a mother of 12 who lives in a shack in Villa Jardin, a southern suburb where drinking water is only obtained from plastic bottles.

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