Argentina – Strategy to improve water quality Morón River

Published: 6 May 2019

Four million people live near the Rio Reconquista in the Province of Buenos Aires in Argentina. The Morón River is one of the most polluted tributaries of the Rio Reconquista. Untreated domestic wastewater, discharges by industries and the uncontrolled dumping of solid waste are the main sources of pollution.

The communities of Morón and Hurlingham, Comirec (the water management authority), Aysa (a drinking water and wastewater company) and the Provincial Authority ADA (whose remit covers the discharge of industrial wastewater) developed a strategy in collaboration with Dutch partners – the Waternet water authority, the Department of Urban Planning and Sustainability of the City of Amsterdam and Deltares – to improve the water quality in the Morón River.

Controlling water pollution, and more

This strategy is based not only on technical solutions for controlling water pollution control but also on an integrated approach that includes urban planning, solid waste management and models for sustainable financing.

Primarily a collaborative strategy

The strategy will be primarily collaborative : it will be developed with stakeholders. Waternet and the Department of Urban Planning and Sustainability of the City of Amsterdam are organising workshops to make this happen. In the meantime, Deltares is working on an integrated approach to improve water quality in the Morón River in Buenos Aires by using the D-Emission model to assess a baseline for pollution loads and the effectiveness of programmes of measures under different scenarios.

starting April workshops are organised

Finance and delivery

RVO (the Netherlands Enterprise Agency) is financing the Dutch contribution through the Partners for Water programme to the development of the strategy. The finalisation of the strategy is expected in July 2019.