Wastewater management in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina

The city of Buenos Aires, the capital town of Argentina, is located besides De la Plata river, and is surrounded by a continuum of built areas, the so-called Greater Buenos Aires. The present situation of sewerage system is described and analysed taking into account: distance from Buenos Aires city, geographic location, socio-economic level, wastewater treatment technologies, management and regulatory agencies. The existence of a sewerage system does not mean automatically wastewater treatment, as frequently in Latin America. The water quality of wastewater receiving bodies is a matter of increasing concern, since large quantity of pollutants is daily discharged.

The past 30 years in the history of developing countries have been plagued with innumerable failures. In spite of the great international investment in water projects, most has been used ineffectively. As reported, in Argentina, wastewater from more than five million inhabitants is discharged at De la Plata River without any treatment. The catchment for drinking water supply is upstream of the discharge at the same river. Although sanitation facilities were installed in the nineteenth century, being pioneers in Latin America, nowadays the situation is comparable to other countries of the south of the continent. Population growth, degradation of the environment, the increase of poverty and the inequality in the distribution of resources are variables that have prevented development projects to provide adequate sanitation services. Integrated water resources management systems require both structural and non-structural measures. Regards a sanitation plan for greater Buenos Aires the main structural measures include: • Industries located at the basins above described, should have their own effluent treatment plants to be able to fulfil the existing rules concerning wastewater discharge at rivers and streams in the province of Buenos Aires, which also include standards for industrial effluents discharge to the sewerage system. • Wastewater treatment plants should be built at different places in order to treat all the domestic effluents of Greater Buenos Aires. These plants should include sewage sludge treatment. Effluents discharged through the sewerage outfall pipe of Berazategui should be previously treated and it should be convenient to reduce its volume. Municipalities located to the south should also have other plants and Buenos Aires city should treat its sewage effluent.