At Fundeps we have been working since 2009 for the right to a healthy environment. We understand the environment from a comprehensive and broad perspective that includes the interaction between natural common goods and society. From this perspective, we are concerned about the province’s water, so in this note we will tell you chronologically about the actions we are carrying out in the search for solutions for a healthy San Roque lake.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

In 2020, we carried out a Situational Diagnosis of Córdoba’s Water Resources: Lago Los Molinos and Lago San Roque, with the aim of analyzing the state of the main basins in the province, fully understanding the problem and analyzing possible courses of action.

The San Roque Lake Basin is in an extremely serious situation due to its advanced state of eutrophication. This means: the proliferation of algae in fresh water as a result of an excess of nutrients, particularly phosphorus; this natural process is exacerbated during hot weather. The situation is mainly due to the lack of sanitation in the Punilla area, a deficient sewage system, lack of control over discharge authorization, degradation of the lake, fires, deforestation, among others. With this basis, we carry out negotiations with decision-makers with the aim of undertaking actions for its remediation.

The pollution of the San Roque Basin not only puts at risk the health of people who are directly or indirectly in contact with the basin, but also affects the quality of life, the landscape, regional economies and the biological diversity of the province.

As we did not receive any positive responses from the provincial administration and as a last resort, in November 2022 we filed a Collective Environmental Protection action suing the Province, the communes and municipalities that make up the San Roque Lake Basin, the Provincial Administration of Water Resources of the Province of Córdoba (APRHI), the Ministry of Public Services of the Province of Córdoba, and the Secretariat of the Environment of the Province of Córdoba (now Ministry). Check out the timeline of the case here.

In the writ of amparo we ask the courts, among other measures, to gradually cease polluting activities such as dumping hazardous waste, sewage, and industrial waste; to order the defendants to build, complete, or expand the necessary sewage works, and to create an autonomous and self-sufficient River Basin Committee, made up of the various stakeholders in the river basin. We also request various precautionary measures such as the suspension of any authorization to carry out untreated dumping, the creation of a temporary management plan, and the design of a risk communication plan, among others.

In March 2023, the Third-Party Administrative Litigation Chamber partially admitted the requested precautionary measure and ordered the Government of Córdoba to prepare and present a provisional Sanitation and Sustainable Development Plan within 60 days.

The province appealed this resolution and simultaneously presented a plan that does not comply with the resolution. The plan presented has serious deficiencies: it does not stipulate deadlines, budget, or agencies in charge of execution. In addition, it is a plan that greatly exceeds the limits of the precautionary measure since it was designed to be executed within a period of 15 years. We at Fundeps made various observations. To date, the intervening Chamber has not yet issued a ruling. We consider that the design of an environmental management program of such impact and temporal extension, which involves present and future generations linked to the San Roque Basin, must necessarily be designed in dialogue with the population and that the future of the basin cannot be decided in the limited period of 60 days.

Currently, the judicial process is still ongoing and in the meantime the province, the Ministry of Environment and the Basin Authority (created in November 2023 by law 10,941) are carrying out insufficient cleanup actions: they are the same ones that have been carried out for years and that have not prevented the current contamination situation.

In the face of the summer season, with very high temperatures, thousands of hectares recently burned and a deep drought, we believe that it is time to demand actions that lead to different results that transform the management of the basin and promote real change. It is a key moment to request citizen participation in the design, execution and implementation of public policies aimed at the sanitation of the basin.

Your participation is key to achieving the cleanup of the basin. SIGN HERE!

Contact

María Laura Carrizo, lauracarrizo@fundeps.org

We presented an environmental protection before the Justice of Córdoba for the serious situation of contamination and degradation that Lake San Roque presents, one of the main reservoirs of Córdoba.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

After an in-depth study of the critical situation of environmental contamination suffered by the main water basins of the province, including Lake San Roque, Los Molinos Dam and Suquía River, we made a diagnosis where we capture its current state and the causes pollution, the consequences that this generates in the environment, in the community and in biodiversity, and we make a series of recommendations to the authorities.

As we were able to determine, the main cause of contamination is the lack or deficiency of appropriate public policies. Which translates into poor management of sewage effluents and urban solid waste, deforestation, contamination with agrochemicals, fires, lack of environmental impact studies in public and private works, among others, all of which ends up seriously affecting the water courses.

We particularly focus on Lake San Roque due to the great importance that this lake has for the entire province, since there are various cultural, economic and developmental life webs in and around it, in addition to supplying water to a large part of the people who live in Córdoba. It is estimated that the water that more than a million and a half people drink comes from the lake, and it is the economic engine of the entire Punilla region.

Given the alarming situation of the lake, and given the lack of initiatives by the authorities to stop the contamination immediately and clean up the basin, despite the constant demands of the community, we decided to go to court through an injunction environmental.

What does the protection consist of?

The purpose of this legal action is to request the Courts to intervene proactively in the protection of the right to health, quality of life and preservation of a healthy environment. Through the amparo presented, we sue the authorities responsible for the situation of Lake San Roque, that is: the Government of the Province of Córdoba, the Ministry of Public Services of the Province of Córdoba, the Provincial Administration of Water Resources of Córdoba ( APRHI), the Secretary of the Environment of the Province of Córdoba, and the municipalities and communes that the basin crosses.

The objective of this action is to ask the Cordovan justice to:

• condemn the defendant authorities to carry out actions aimed at preventing polluting behavior in the San Roque Lake basin and its tributary rivers;
• order to cease the dumping of substances that pollute the lake;
• Demand to stop public and private works that could deepen the critical situation of the basin;
• order the urgent restoration and remediation of the lake;
• At the same time, we ask for the creation of an interdisciplinary and interjurisdictional River Basin Committee, which has powers of inspection, control, authorization of polluting activities and/or undertakings, among other powers. The formation and proper functioning of said Committee is fundamental in order to consolidate efficient and appropriate solutions to the needs of the entire community. In this sense, we request that citizen participation be guaranteed in advance in its formation and in its subsequent operation, and that its opinion be mandatory for the authorities.

The reality shows the serious and critical situation that all the water courses in the province are going through, something as basic as the water we drink cannot admit more inaction and delays on the part of the authorities. For this reason, we hope that the Justice of Córdoba responds quickly and responsibly to this cause, given the importance it has for those of us who inhabit the province, for future generations, for the environment and for the community of Punilla.

More Information

Situational Diagnosis of the Water Resources of Córdoba: Los Molinos Lake and San Roque Lake

Situational Diagnosis of the Water Resources of Córdoba: Suquía River

Author

Ananda Lavayén

Contacto

Laura Carrizo, lauracarrizo@fundeps.org