In Rio de Janeiro Brazil, where the mountains meet the beach, with six million residents and more than a million tourists a year, a cleanup of the beaches from past years is now a major issue. Until recently, the beach was a place for Cariocas, as Rio residents are known, to escape their worries, and not to brood on new ones. But the issue of protecting Rio’s world-class coastline hastrickled into the public consciousness.

　　Coastal planning was never a very popular subject here in Brazil, despite the fact that we have more than five thousand miles of sand beaches in our country. But people in general, they didn't know. But in the last 20 years, there is a growing consciousness about the subject. And lately people are much more concerned about the problems along the coastline.

　　That burgeoning public awareness was fueled by a series of coastal calamities, including the dumping and leaking of raw sewage, the appearance of ugly parasitic sea formation known as black tongues, oil spills and fish die-offs. As a result, celebrated beaches like Copacabana and Ipanema suffer sporadic closings.

　　The government is improving the sewers and they are conscious about the importance of this kind of environmental issue. Nowadays, the population won't accept any more dirty beaches andlagoons.

　　Heavy public investment to the tune of about 15 million dollars has been spent to improve the water that ends up on these beaches. For the moment then, the glorious beaches of Rio de Janeiro are getting more of the attention they deserve from public officials. But moreremains to be done. In the meantime, they will likely continue to get plenty of attention from armies of beach-lovers, Cariocas and tourists alike.