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| Argentina - Matanza-Riachuelo Environmental Plan |
Background:
Located in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Matanza-Riachuelo is the most contaminated river basin in Argentina. The Matanza-Riachuelo River has been used as a sewage destination since the colonial years, and throughout the centuries pollution levels have steadily increased along with industrialization. The basin is also home to Argentina's largest population of poor communities. In short, the river basin is by far Argentia's worst environmental hot-spot.
The basin has an area of 2,200 km2, with average flows ranging from 2.9 m3/s to more than 1,000 m3/s during certain times of the year. Around 7 million people live in the basin, of which 35% live without proper drinking water access, and 55% are not connected to the sewerage system. At the end of 2005, more than 2 million people living in this basin were living below the poverty line of $2/day, many of whom are not buffered from the high pollution levels.
By the end of 2003, more than 3,000 corporations had their industrial activities located along the watershed, with the majority discharging their untreated effluents in the water collection system or directly into the river. Such industrial effluents represent a critical factor in the watershed contamination, contributing to around 50% of the organic and roughly all toxic discharge. Overall, the industrial facilities located along the watershed can be characterized by use of old-fashioned technology and low levels of pollution control. Usually, existing treatment facilities do not work well, and environmental compliance is extremely low. The table below categorizes by industry the effluents discharged at the main water courses in the basin, taken from the last pollution inventory done in the river basin.
Industry Meat and Dairy Other food and non-alcoholic beverages Paper and textile Chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemical Leather Methalurgy Ethanol and alcoholic beverages Other activities
Effluent flow (m3/day) 18,764 11,791 9,858 25,739 2,897 6,017 2,627 9,754
Source: Matanza-Riachuelo Environmental Management Plan (1995).
The water quality is extremely critical. It has been assessed as ranging from medium contamination in the more upstream areas, with dissolved oxygen (DO) in the range 4 ? 8 mg/L and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) in the range 5 ? 8 mg/L, to extreme contamination in the more downstream portion of the river and in the port area, with DO in the range 0 ? 3 mg/L and BOD5 above 20 mg/L..
Several attempts to restore the watershed?s water quality have been made. However, for different reasons, they all failed to achieve the desirable results. Most notably, in 1994, the Inter-American Development financed a comprehensive Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the Matanza-Riachuelo watershed. After the EMP was concluded, the IDB agreed to provide a loan to Argentina to give a solution to the watershed?s problems through the implementation of the several measures proposed by the EMP. However, only few components of the original envisioned project were implemented, primarily due to jurisdictional difficulties between the dozen municipalities within the basin..
In the past few years, the environmental degradation of the Matanza-Riachuelo watershed has triggered a national debate. In December 2003, Argentina?s national ombudsman presented a report in which, besides other facts, denounced the lead levels in the river as much higher than the regulatory standards. Moreover, the report demonstrated that an important segment of the population (especially children) living in the most contaminated areas has high levels of lead in the blood. The report requested the immediate action of the Secretary of Environment and the Supreme Court of Justice.
In June 2006, the nation?s Supreme Court demanded the national government and the governments of the province and the city of Buenos Aires to present an integrated sanitation plan for Matanza-Riachuelo watershed in 30 days. The Court also gave 30 days to 44 companies operating in the basin to present technical reports about the effluents and waste being discharged in the river, besides presenting information about treatment systems employed. The national government has also presented legislation to create a new river basin authority, designed to bypass all the jurisdictional rivalries that have paralyzed progress to date. This authority is expected to be approved this year, and functioning in early 2007.
The proposed activity is linked to the proposed Argentina Environment APL (P100806), currently under preparation. The APL?s first phase is expected to start on April 2007 and will last for around 18 months. Its main goal will be to provide technical assistance for tackling river basin and watershed problems in Argentina, with phase I activities focused on the Matanza-Riachuelo issues. In its second phase, the APL will finance implementation of infrastructure works necessary for resolving the water issues studied in phase one. Phase two is expected to last 5 years from the beginning of 2009.
With the recent change in the Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development in Argentina, the national government is giving top-priority to the Matanza-Riachuelo issue. Aiming to capitalize on this opportunity, the APL is being designed to have a strong component to deal with the river problem.
Therefore, the results achieved with the support of the BNWPP will bring significant value-added to the APL. They will allow for the analysis of different alternatives to deal with the problem, and provide critical information for the APL?s design. Moreover, the main output of the BNWPP-financed work would be the action and dissemination plan agreed with the Argentinean government for the overall river basin management plan -- whose scope will likely exceed the APL itself.
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BNWPP Support Objectives:
The government of Argentina, through the Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Infrastructure (SAyDS), has made the Matanza-Riachuelo problem the top-priority in its environmental agenda. The SAyDS has also requested the assistance of the Bank to support the preparation of the final action plan and to include technical assistance (TA) and investment activities under the framework of an environmental adaptable program loan (APL) under preparation.
With that in mind, BNWPP is being requested to: (i) support a review and update of the Environmental Management Plan developed in the 1990?s, (ii) implement a workshop including the participation of small number of top international recognized water experts, and (iii) support the process of follow-up dissemination and discussion of the recommendations of the workshop with stakeholders in the many governmental jurisdictions involved in the future implementation of the plan. One of the biggest challenges of the task will be to address the risks inherent in Argentina attempting to implement tighter environmental controls -- using both traditional and more innovative economic instruments -- across the Matanza-Riachuelo river basin for the first time.
The workshop will be held in the city of Buenos Aires with the main national, provincial and municipal authorities. The experts are expected to discuss similar experiences from other major urban rivers requiring drastic clean-up and to design possible courses of action for the specific case of Matanza-Riachuelo. The final output of the experts? work will be a conclusive report with specific recommendations for water use and quality measures endorsed by the national and sub national authorities, plus advice on how to better structure and strengthen the institutional framework as to achieve to ultimate objective of cleaning up the river waters.
Regarding the institutional framework for tackling the problem, the experts? report will include recommendations in support of the new river basin authority charged to implement the plans and standards promulgated by the Secretariat of Environment. Whereas the structure of the authority is laid out in new legislation, the workshop will contribute to how the institutional framework shall be adjusted or changed in order to allow for the operationalization of the authority's priorities, the recognition of the authority?s law-enforcement status and the design of mechanisms to ensure water quality restoration through sound technical and economical measures. Given the complexity of the problems to be addressed, the new authority will face an over-whelming task in simply starting up in a manner that is both efficient and will earn it credibility. The workshop's focus on water quality, clean-up measures, and lessons from experience will provide a valuable platform of advice to institutionally strengthen the new basin authority.
Once the workshop is held and the action plan is agreed, a website will be implemented to allow for dissemination of information about the problem and of recent measures adopted. In addition, a program of municipal dissemination will be agreed upon and launched by the Matanza-Riachuelo Authority, together with the national government, to achieve local understanding and buy-in for the plan. The national government will also assume responsibility for updating the website as agreements are reached and changes occur.
This report will constitute a basic piece of information for the development of a future loan (Environmental APL) to finance the implementation of infrastructure and non infrastructure works to reduce the discharge of contaminating pollutants to the basin and in the long run to clean the river waters. In other words, the output of the proposed BNWPP activity will be a strategic piece in a significantly large process, where a problem that has been affecting the Argentinean environment and population for decades will be finally tackled.
In order to fulfill the above-mentioned objectives, BNWPP is requested to provide US$74,800 that will be used to contract experts, bring the experts to Buenos Aires, hold the workshop, and conduct follow-on dissemination. The detailed TORs will be drafted immediately upon confirmation of funding, in order to meet a target date for the workshop in early December.
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BNWPP Support Output/Products:
The main output expected from BNWPP?s support is a report drafted by top international water experts establishing water uses, ambient water quality standards, and recommendation for appropriate measures to achieve compliance with such standards in a time-bound fashion. The study will also address the high levels of risk and uncertainty associated with the Matanza-Riachuelo cleanup, for reasons due to both political will and financial costs. The analyisis will be divided into the three main geographic sections of the basin. In addition, the report will include operational guidance, given by the experts and participants present at the workshop, on the priorities and sequencing of efforts that the authority will pursue. Recommended measures to strengthen the institutional framework dealing with the problem will also be part of the report. Another output will be the development of a website, a specific plan for disseminating the results, and measures to bring transparency to the decision-making process.
It is expected that the workshop will be the forum where the milestones for having the Matanza-Riachuelo issue solved will be agreed upon. Those milestones, as agreed with the government of Argentina, will be at the core of the APL project the World Bank will finance.
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Region: LCR
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Country:
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| Program Year:2006
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