Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin: A Case Study in Watershed Governance
The Matanza-Riachuelo (M-R) river forms the southern boundary of the city of Buenos Aires, and has been
intricately linked with the identity of the city since its founding. Historically important as a component of
Buenos Aires’ complex port arrangement (despite its people being known as portenos, Buenos Aires
lacked a true port for most of its history), much of the nation’s heavy industry settled along its banks,
utilizing the water for both processing and waste removal.
Originally, the home of tanneries, butchers and other agricultural processing facilities (Matanza means
butcher or slaughter in Spanish), with the advent of the industrial revolution heavier industries have
moved in. Now, the area is known mostly for the concentration of petrochemical and pharmaceutical
companies, though the historical uses have not completely left the area. In all the river basin currently
houses between 3,000 and 4,000 different industrial sites, generating roughly 25% of the country’s GDP.
Not only did the river’s industrial character change as the nation grew and modernized (at the turn of the
1900’s Argentina’s wealth was on par with the United States), but so did the neighborhoods along its
banks. The mouth of the M-R River, where it empties into La Plata, is one of the original neighborhoods of
Buenos Aires, and home to one of the city’s oldest barrios (neighborhoods), La Boca. While the area today
is touted as a tourist destination, it retains much of its historical identity. Due to the frequent flooding
caused by onshore winds that at times prevent the M-R from flowing into La Plata, and an epidemic of
yellow fever early in the city’s history, the city’s elite moved further north leaving the area dominated by
Italian and Spanish immigrants (from whom the area’s distinct identity is derived, including tango). As the
city expanded, the low lying lands around La Boca and further west became sites for additional migrant
settlement, though the tide has shifted from European countries to Argentina’s Latin American neighbors.
With this growth has come enormous demographic pressures on the city resources, with successive
immigration waves (largely timed with Argentina’s boom and bust economy) settling in more and more
unstable areas. Today, of the roughly 3.5 – 5 million people living within the M-R basin (approximately
10% of the country’s total population and over a quarter of the Greater Buenos Aires population) 1.2
million live below the poverty line and 500,000 live in villas (the Argentine term for slums).
Map of the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin
Dense, informal settlement and decades of excessive pollution have combined to make the M-R basin one
of the more contested topics in Buenos Aires’, and Argentina’s, politics. The first pledge to address the
increasing levels of pollution was in 1811, at the time due to the use of the river for removing animal
carcasses and processing waste, and one of the latest was in 2005 when the environmental minister, Maria
Julia Alsogaray, promised to make the M-R clean enough to drink from “within 1,000 days” (she was not
the first to make, or break, this promise). Prior to current efforts to address the river contamination, the
last major government program was initiated in 1993, when the InterAmerican Development Bank loaned
Argentina US$250 million, of which US$150 million has gone to other projects, US$7 million to
consultants, US$6m to fines for not using the money and US$1 on the river itself (the remaining money
has yet to be allocated).
One major factor inhibiting coordinated action towards cleaning the river has been Argentina’s complex
political landscape. A legacy of the role played by Buenos Aires first in the Spanish administration of Latin
America and later the various configurations of independent nations, the relationship between the City of
Buenos Aires, the Federal Government and the various provinces has always been contentious. Only
recently has Buenos Aires gained equal standing with the provinces in national representation (a process
first begun in 1996 and still ongoing), though in many ways this has only served to further complicate
their relationships. The complex overlap of responsibility and representation between levels of
administration and a relatively weak federal government has previously prevented any comprehensive
action being taken along the extent of the M-R basin (which crosses Federal, Buenos Aires Province and
Buenos Aires City jurisdictions, as well as 14 municipalities).
This all changed in 2008, when the Supreme Court of Argentina decided the Mendoza case (MENDOZA
BEATRIZ SILVIA AND OTHERS V/ THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT AND OTHERS IN REGARDS TO DAMAGE
SUFFERED) in favor of the plaintiffs, holding the Federal Government, Buenos Aires Province and Buenos
Aires City (and 44 adjacent businesses) all equally responsible for the contamination of the river and its
remediation. Specifically, the governments were charged with three duties by the court, to improve the
quality of life for inhabitants within the basin, the remediation of the basin’s ecological components, and
to prevent further contamination of the river basin. Lacking an existing organization capable of
administering this duty, the Argentine Senate created a new interjurisdictional body defined, unusually, by
the extent of the M-R watershed. ACUMAR, or Autoridad de la CUenca MAtanza-Riachuelo, was created
to permit basinwide governance, harmonizing data collection, regulation enactment and enforcement, as
well as to administer and distribute clean up funds. Additionally, the creation of ACUMAR was backed by a
number of international aid organizations, most prominently the World Bank, with its largest ever loan for
a water remediation / sanitation project (US$ 840 million). ACUMAR has since worked to develop an
action plan (PISA, Comprehensive Sanitation Plan) to guide projects in the area, unify regulation within the
basin and encourage participation both between governments and citizens of the basin. Early efforts have
been promising (with over 70,000 tons of solid waste removed approximately 243,000m3 of open waste
sites removed, estimated at 30% of the overall project, with AR$4.43bn invested so far, 2010 numbers),
and while there is much yet to be done, Argentina’s experiment in a watershed management authority
may prove to be useful model for other sites.
This combination of a coordinated, interjurisdictional entity operating in a politically charged arena with
financial and technical support from the international aid community is what provides a valuable test case
for exploring some of the issues that affect other, larger watersheds. We will discuss in class some of the
factors that have led to the successes, and failures of the approaches Argentina has taken in the past
towards the M-R basin remediation, as well as potential to use the type of agency ACUMAR represents in
other contested watersheds.
Some questions to consider are below:
1.
The World Bank’s participation in the project was contingent on Argentina developing the
organizational capabilities ACUMAR (in order to avoid the squandering of funds that happened in
1990’s effot), a process itself only possible due to Argentina’s relative political stability since the
early 1980’s. What other contested areas have we looked at / exist that may benefit from a similar
financial incentive towards administrative reform?
2.
We noted earlier the need for an effective legal environment in order to develop cooperative
frameworks, and in fact Argentina’s development of the watershed authority was contingent on
the ability of the Supreme Court to hold all three levels of government accountable. Is there an
organization today with the capacity to act similarly on the world stage – are the trade offs
associated with the creation / strengthening of such an institution at an international level
balanced?
3.
The case that began the clean up effort was initiated by concerned citizens and environmental /
political activists, what role can similar groups play in international disputes? What are the
appropriate platforms for that participation?
1.
Key components of PISA
The Comprehensive Sanitation Plan (PISA)
This plan forms the basis of the agreed plan of action guiding ACUMAR’s involvement in the basin.
Created in 2009, the plan is formed of several key components, the gist of which is captured below
(translation provided by Google translator, apologies).

Institutional - General Secretariat
o
His responsibility includes the study of relations between the various bodies responsible
at the basin level (municipal, provincial, national), the development of the institutions of
the River Basin Authority, and the commissioning of the model postulated in Law 26,168
national through an inter-jurisdictional participation structure while participatory and
effective, in pursuit of the objectives of integrated management of watershed.

Body of Water
o
It aims to promote, through an integrated management approach basin, recovery and
preservation of the quality of surface water and groundwater in Basin Water Slaughter Stream and surface water in the Rio de la Plata, on the basis of uses and objectives of a
water quality posed, agreed and allocated to the various sections and parts of them, in
the short, medium and long term.

Environmental Management Planning
o
Its general objectives guide the spatial impact actions towards balanced growth,
integrated, sustainable and socially just Basin territory, build appropriate intervention
mechanisms to take advantage of development opportunities and assist in reversing
housing situations critical towards improving the quality of life of the population.

Health
o
The component part of the Health Task Force of the population of the Matanza Creek,
along with all relevant agencies with jurisdictional level incumbencies directly associated
with risk prevention and identification of possible damage to the watershed, in order to
design and implement a Health Plan for the Matanza Creek whose main axes are: Training
Health Team, Strengthening Healthcare Network and Security.

Municipal Solid Waste
o
Aims to develop effective strategies for making diagnoses and formulating regional
management strategies, community action programs, structural and nonstructural
comprehensive eradication of landfills, collection, transportation and disposal of waste, all
through assistance to municipalities in the basin and articulating comprehensive actions
at various levels of competence in the field.

Environmental Control
o
It is responsible for the deployment of the powers provided in Article 7 of Law 26168
recommending to the President of the ACUMAR the adoption of those measures to the
appropriate comptroller of establishments located in the area of the basin in coordination
with the authorities local as well as complementing their own actions with the MINISTRY
OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT under the provisions of Law
24,051 and its regulation.

Industry
o
Aims to generate regulatory instruments, financial and technical resources to ensure a
gradual adjustment of production patterns pointedly to sustainable development
objectives defined in the scope of the watershed.

Infrastructure
o
It aims to promote the coordination of actions of the agencies with jurisdiction in the area
of the basin in sanitation, flood control, sanitation, sewerage and water supply, trying to
influence the action planning and execution of works framed in the field of Slaughter
Creek Implementation Committee is currently comprised of the River Basin Authority.

Social Participation
o
It aims to promote the actions sustentabillidad Comprehensive Plan Matanza Creek and
they are effective in the transformation of reality, for which tends to the different social
sectors in the area of the basin ownership of the State policies and programs, providing
legitimacy to interventions and strategies that are designed.

Education
o
It aims at developing a strategy agreed in the area of the watershed to develop
educational skills at all levels and in all jurisdictions in both the formal and non formal,
comprising the creation of opportunities for coordination of education policies and the
preparation of community-level projects. One of his projects are and were hiking. So far
there have been two, one in 2010 and again in force. There is already a project for a new
cruise later this year. These consist of a school participating in each of the 14
municipalities and CABA, which involved 2 students from each school and a teacher. This
lasts for 4 days which is learning about the problems these present in the basin, and its
solution as the goal of PISA is that more widespread and many people aware.
The Basin, basic details
Overall Length: ~64 km
Watershed Area: ~2,240 km3
Total Population in Basin: 3.5 – 5m

Buenos Aires Population: 13m (Greater Buenos Aires) (25-40% in M-R Basin)

Argentina Total Population: 42m (~10% in M-R Basin)
Population below poverty line: 1.2m
Population in Informal Settlements (villas): ~500k
Number of Industries: 3,000 – 4,000
Largest Contaminant Sources: 65 sites responsible for 80% of industrial contamination

Chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemical: ~24%

Meat and dairy industry 21%

Food and non- alcoholic beverage industries 14%

Paper mill and textiles 11%

Metallurgic 7%

Animal skins 3 %
Number of open Waste Dumps: 42
Main Contaminants: Organic contamination, heavy metals such as lead, mercury, chromium and other
industrial residues
First Instance of Government Promised Clean Up: 1811 (as United Provinces of the Rio de La Plata)
Latest Instance of Government Promised Clean Up: 2006 (as Argentine Republic)
Last Time a Politician Promised to Drink from the River “within 1,000 days”: 2005 (environmental minister
Maria Julia Alsogaray)
References: 
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ACUMAR o http://www.acumar.gov.ar/index.php Business News Americas o http://www.bnamericas.com/news/waterandwaste/Matanza‐
Riachuelo_cleanup_makes_progress_‐_Acumar CIA World Factbook: o https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the‐world‐factbook/geos/ar.html Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales o http://www.farn.org.ar/participacion/riachuelo/resumen_ingles.html International Water and Sanitation Centre o http://www.source.irc.nl/page/46738 The Argentina Independent online: o http://www.argentinaindependent.com/socialissues/environment/troubled‐waters‐the‐
matanza‐riachuelo‐river‐basin/ The Blacksmith Institute o http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/wwpp2007/finalReport2007.pdf The Los Angeles Times o http://articles.latimes.com/1995‐04‐16/news/mn‐55179_1_oil‐tanker The World Bank o http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64312881&piPK=64302848
&theSitePK=40941&Projectid=P105680 Wikipedia (Spanish and English) o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_urban_water_management_in_Buenos_Aires,_
Argentina o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matanza_River