Civil Society, Combating Desertification and Drought, Development & Aid, Environment, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, Population

ARGENTINA: From Wetlands to Desert, But No One Listening Upstream

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 22 2007 (IPS) - The western portion of the Argentine province of La Pampa was a veritable oasis 50 years ago, with natural vegetation, thriving crops and abundant livestock. But the arbitrary management of the Atuel river upstream in the neighbouring province of Mendoza has transformed what were once wetlands and fertile farmland into a desert.

The problem dates back many years, but now a broad group of political leaders, academics, members of the business community, farmers, environmentalists and students in La Pampa, tired of the stonewalling by the Mendoza provincial government, have decided to turn to the Supreme Court.

"The people of La Pampa are demanding justice for Atuel" was the theme of an assembly called earlier this month in which the participants decided to wage yet another battle in court.

"We don&#39t want to just file another complaint; we want the damages to be brought to an end, and we want a resolution forcing the parties to negotiate," Leandro Altolaguirre, with the Alihuen Association, told IPS.

According to the environmental activist from La Pampa, which lies between Mendoza to the west and the province of Buenos Aires to the east, there are now periods of up to eight months in which no water runs in the Atuel river bed in La Pampa, and times at which the river suddenly floods. The radical changes are the result of how Mendoza manages its dams and hydroelectric stations.

Sources from Mendoza have told the Alihuen Association that in the last seven years, the hydropower stations of Los Nihuiles and Valle Grande, which were built on the Atuel river in that province, have accumulated water for generating electricity for three hours a day, at the hours of peak demand, when the price is highest.

"That is a serious issue, because with the aim of driving up the price, an energy generating source is apparently being manipulated, which is causing major damages to people down river," said Altolaguirre. The dams, which produce two percent of Argentina’s energy, are operated by private companies through concessions.

The problem has a long history. Geographer Walter Cazenave at the National University of La Pampa told IPS that the Atuel river used to flow into the province through "a kind of inland delta that included lakes and swamps."

The Atuel river emerges 3,500 metres above sea level in the Andes mountains, and is fed by glaciers before running through a variety of geographic areas from its source in Mendoza to the final stretch in the plains or pampas, where in the past it formed vast wetlands.

The wetlands used to cover 5,000 square kilometres, which in the 18th and 19th centuries were described by travellers as "the impenetrable swamps of Atuel."

But this area of enormous biodiversity has since turned into a desert, where a number of local species have disappeared, like the jaguar, capybara and maned wolf, reports the Alihuen Association.

"The first draining and obstructions began in 1917," said Cazenave, describing the history of the conflict over water in the area.

Later, mismanagement of the river and the subsequent drought led to the drying up of several branches of the river, and in 1948, the main riverbed began to run dry as a result of the construction of the El Nihuil dam in Mendoza.

At that time, La Pampa was not yet a province, but a territory dependent on the national government, which weakened the complaints of people in the area, the expert explained.

The state-run company that operated the dam was supposed to release water three times a year to meet the needs of people living downriver, but "that never happened," said Cazenave.

In 1973, after 25 years of a dry riverbed, the Atuel river began to flow again in La Pampa, not due to the generosity of the neighbouring province but because of climatic changes. However, the flow is irregular.

"Since then there have been cutoffs and floods, which are not regular, and no warning is given, and that causes a number of problems," he said.

The arbitrary management of the river in an area where rainfall is scarce has modified the ecosystem. Some species have adapted, but most have declined in number or have disappeared entirely from the area.

The riverbed has been clogged with sandbanks, dry zone forests have begun to grow in what were once swamps, and the lagoons have been reduced to salt marshes.

The Santa Isabel farming and livestock colony was established there in 1910, which is when crops began to be grown in the area, said Cazenave. At one point, the number of sheep exceeded two million head, compared to less than 10,000 today.

The construction of the dams upriver and the resultant drought drove local farmers in large numbers to the cities.

A group of 70 farmers living along the Atuel river and tributary rivers affected by the arbitrary cutoffs of water flow have asked the Alihuen Association to represent them before the Supreme Court "to revert the desertification, the salinisation of underground water, the degradation of the wetlands, and the loss of flora and fauna in the region."

The government of the province of La Pampa itself, through its water and environment officials, is now involved in the lawsuit as well. Political leaders who took part in the assembly held earlier this month said Governor Carlos Verna supports the legal action.

But according to Cazenave, Mendoza has no intention of responding to the demand that something be done.

The Supreme Court already instructed Mendoza in 1987 to recognise that the water in the Atuel river belongs to both provinces, and to agree to a joint management plan. However, the legal resolution was never enforced.

"In the past 12 months, Mendoza has not even responded to La Pampa’s calls for a meeting that an interprovincial commission was to hold on the issue," said the expert.

"Under one pretext or another, they stubbornly refuse to yield on the water question," and will not even agree to study alternatives for a rational use of the river, he said.

Cazenave said that if the riverbed were lined to make it impermeable, the water needed by the western part of La Pampa province would be saved, and the area would be guaranteed a steady supply year-round without affecting consumption in Mendoza.

But no one is listening upstream, so the province is once again taking its case to the Supreme Court, as it did 20 years ago.