Almost a week has passed since then Medanosa town with 7,000 inhabitants in the extreme southwest of Buenos Aires province and about 47 kilometers from Bahía Blanca has no drinking water supply. Given the extreme temperatures, residents are calling for the construction of an aqueduct as a solution to this historic problem.
“We had practically a week in which not a drop of water entered most houses, not even into the buried tanks. This situation, added to the extreme heat that existed at the time, was truly terrible. It took many years to endure this. It is already untenable,” he said THE NATION Griselda Antonelli, who has lived in the city for 45 years.
And he explained: “The problem is not new, but it has been going on for many years, I could say more than 10. We started by putting tanks under our houses so that the water pressure could get there. But it didn’t work either. So the situation is becoming more and more complex.”
The final cut began last Wednesday the 24th. As the mayor confirmed, the western part of Médanos currently remains without access to water. The service is the responsibility of Aguas Bonaerenses SA (ABSA), a provincial concession company, to which residents will report at 9 a.m. tomorrow to complain.
Company spokespeople emphasized that “the offering is scarce for all users at different times of the day.” Amid overwhelming days, they, like the mayor’s office, are calling on residents to use “this scarce and limited resource” responsibly and avoid “non-essential uses.”
Local government, responsible for Carlos Bevilacqua (from the neighborhood party Acción Por Villarino) carried out some emergency measures, but emphasized the need for the construction of the Sauce Chico–Médanos aqueduct as the only definitive solution to the water shortage that Médanos, the cities of Argerich and La Mascota are also suffering today.
“As neighbors, we first ask for the provision of water so that they look for the necessary alternatives so that we can have water. We are in the summer, next week we have temperatures of 40 degrees every day, we really cannot stand that. There are older people, people with disabilities who suffer much more from this situation. And we ask for an alternative so that we can have water in our homes until this work is completed, that ABSA is looking for another alternative so that we can have this vital resource. That is us.” “A really affected city, it’s not a sector, it’s the whole city and the situation is getting worse every year,” said Antonelli, who is among the group of neighbors calling at 9 a.m. tomorrow to appear at the ABSA plant.
The company, in turn, points out that the underlying solution is the construction of the aqueduct. In response to the request from THE NATIONABSA spokespeople explained that two new water boreholes have been added to the service in recent days, increasing water flow by 10%.
“With days of oppressive temperatures increasing water consumption beyond production capacity, supplies are tight for all consumers at various times of the day,” they admit. That’s why they have tightened the emergency plan with five daily trips of tank trucks with 30,000 liters each.
The municipality also introduced home water delivery, with a fixed schedule from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Each truck delivers to about 23 houses and reaches almost 90 houses every day. A cistern with drinking water was also installed on the site so that neighbors can come directly to the search. To order, please call 291-532-1390.
The community filed a formal complaint with the provincial water regulator, the Water Authority (ADA), which is under the provincial infrastructure ministry. There they called for an urgent intervention for a comprehensive assessment of the ABSA infrastructure in Médanos, which includes the inspection of pipes, the verification of valves and the sectorization of the network, as well as the control of pumps and wells. “This claim was made because despite water production, there are areas that the service does not reach, indicating problems in the network that need to be addressed by the borrowing company under the control of the province,” they noted.
“We in the community are making every possible effort, but this is not the solution. This is the final solution to a 30-year-old problem that is becoming increasingly serious.” Let them do the work on the aqueduct. Given this situation, the province tells us that it would take on debt to do this, but would need approval from the national government to do so. Beyond differences and governments, politics must be the one that provides the answer and solution to this serious problem, which will only get worse unless ABSA and the province make a serious and responsible decision. Water is a basic element to be able to live, Médanos does not want to wait any longer because it cannot wait any longer. “It’s very sad and inhumane at these temperatures,” he emphasized in an interview THE NATION Bevilacqua.
The Sauce Chico-Médanos aqueduct is a complex structure consisting of 18 kilometers of pipes, a water treatment plant and another delivery system. It would solve the water problem of three cities: Argerich, Mascota and Médanos, and could also benefit General Cerri.
Two months ago they completed the technical project that the municipality carried out in collaboration with Hidráulica (which depends on the Provincial Ministry of Infrastructure) and which had begun in 2019. According to the municipality, this required environmental studies, intergovernmental approvals and extensive technical developments.
The community already has the necessary building land. Now they have to make the investment, which they estimate at $15 million. There is a preliminary agreement with the Andean Development Corporation (CAF). According to Bevilacqua, the province of Buenos Aires has decided to take on debt to carry out the work, which would require approval from the national government.
The mayor met with the provincial chief of staff, Carlos Bianco, and the minister of infrastructure, Gabriel Katopodis. Spokespeople for this portfolio stated THE NATION: “The Sauce Chico-Médanos aqueduct is a much more complex project and presents several difficulties to be resolved: environmental (indigenous forests of Chañares) and authorizations from neighboring municipalities that make up the basin (Bahía Blanca, Tornquist and Saavedra). In addition, the expropriation of a plot of land on the Sauce Chico river for the pumping and treatment plant.”
According to Bevilacqua, CAF representatives will meet with national economy ministry officials tomorrow to finalize the details of the credit line. From the portfolio led by Luis Caputo, they also did not respond to the request of this media at the end of this communication. Then this body should approve the debt through the Ministry of the Interior, which is currently headed by Diego Santilli.
“This is a matter that the province has to do through ABSA, and it’s not doing that. And if the province doesn’t have the funds and needs it, then it has to provide the necessary documentation.”
Once the necessary resources are made available, the work is expected to take three years to complete.
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