Pollution and Diminishing Water Quality in Argentina

After years of deteriorating water quality and pollution, Argentine officials are taking action.

The majority of Argentina receives its water from the Matanza-Riachuelo river basin in Buenos Aires, but the basin is quickly becoming among the most polluted in the world. Officials turned to extracting from deeper wells, but ran into issues of overexploitation and misuse. The now abandoned wells became an additional source of lost revenue for the country.

Most of the pollution stems from the mismanagement of household and industrial waste and can have dangerous consequences. According to the National Directorate for Water Supply and Sanitation, only 36% of wastewater was treated in 2018. Argentina’s industrial development and unsustainable environmental practices coupled with poor management is contributing heavily to the increased levels of arsenic in the water. Roughly 4 million people and 17 out of 23 provinces are affected by arsenic, according to estimates by the Water Governance in Argentina, making arsenic an extreme public health issue.

Additionally, Argentina suffers from extreme income inequality between rural and urban communities, making access to safe drinking water significantly skewed. Urban growth in large cities contributes heavily to the increasing water deficit. In rural communities, only about 54% of the population had access to drinking water and only 6% to sewage. Contrastly, the Water Governance estimates roughly 87% of urban areas had drinking water and 58% had sewage in 2015.

Several lakes and rivers in Argentina are currently suffering from eutrophication and algal blooms as a result of agricultural and recreational activities. With resources quickly deteriorating, cities such as La Rioja and Catamarca placed restrictions on water, “forcing the residents to use the only water they have available, even if it is contaminated”, according to Water Action Hub.

In an attempt to solve these pressing issues with water quality, Argentine officials adopted the National Water Plan and committed to Sustainable Development Goal 6 “Clean water and sanitation” for 2030. In the meantime, scientists took matters into their own hands. Several scientists are developing ways to turn organic waste into an effective water filter, according to the Global Press Journal. Officials are now implementing these filters into kindergartens and public spaces across the country.

Additional efforts to resolve the water crisis are underway. This year, Argentina launched a new sanitation system, hoping to purify the Matanza Riachuelo Basin.