In November 2025, the Blue Deal team visited their Argentinian partners to discuss the development of an integrated water system analysis and their approach to one of the region's most pressing challenges: managing the dramatic swings between devastating floods and severe droughts.
A Strategic Partnership in Action
From November 3-12, Dutch Water Authorities (DWA) experts worked alongside their partners at Autoridad del Agua (ADA) of Buenos Aires province, furthering a collaboration that has strong support from the Dutch embassy. Ambassador Mauritz Verheijden, who met with the team in Buenos Aires, emphasised the value of this long-term partnership between the Netherlands and Argentina.
Breakthrough in Integrated Water Analysis
The mission achieved a major milestone: completing an integrated water system analysis in concept for nearly half of the Blue Deal catchment area. This comprehensive approach brings together several years of measurement data – collected through both technical monitoring and participatory efforts with local farmers – with advanced surface and groundwater modeling.
The analysis does more than map the current situation. It identifies specific problems, defines what a healthy water system would look like for the region, and charts practical pathways to get there. For ADA, this methodology represents a new approach to their water management.
Understanding the Extremes
The urgency of this work is clear in the dramatic conditions facing the region. Currently, 2 million hectares across Buenos Aires province lie underwater due to El Niño-driven heavy rainfall. The flat pampas landscape, including the agricultural fields of Ayacucho municipality, becomes a vast floodplain during prolonged rain events. With slow drainage toward the Atlantic Ocean and rivers unable to handle the massive volumes, water lingers for extended periods.
The team visited Ayacucho with the mayor and key municipal staff to examine critical problem areas firsthand. These flooding issues mirror a larger regional pattern affecting agriculture and livelihoods across the province.
Yet just two years ago, the challenge was the opposite. From 2021 to 2023, La Niña brought severe drought to the same areas, with impacts that continue to reverberate. Livestock farmers are still dealing with reduced cattle fertility – a problem that persists for up to three years following extreme drought conditions.
Building Resilience Through Collaboration
Blue Deal’s integrated approach addresses both extremes, working to make the water system more resilient to climate variability. By combining Dutch expertise in water management with local knowledge and ADA’s regional authority, the partnership is developing practical solutions for a region caught between too much water and too little.
The visit was also an opportunity to connect new members in the Blue Deal partnership: as current partnership manager Simon Hofstra prepares for retirement in February 2026, Udo Perdok is stepping into the role, ensuring continuity in this vital Dutch-Argentinian collaboration.