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Argentina

Dutch Water Authorities works together with the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina to improve water management. The Tandil-General Lavalle catchment area is regularly hit by flooding, seawater intrusion, drought and a lack of fresh water.

The Blue Deal partnership with Dutch Water Authorities is boosting trust in authorities and promoting collaboration between interested parties in Argentina. For the first time, farmers, municipalities and provincial bodies are working on water management together. The partnership made a film about the participatory approach in General Lavalle to share their positive experience of working together.

New water management organisation

In the area that has been designated as a test site, the partners jointly identified various locations with water issues. In order to be able to tackle problems structurally, a local water management organisation has been set up.

Monitoring station in Argentina located in a field seen from above; two people are working to readjust the equipment. A pick-up truck is parked nearby. — Monitoring station in the Tandil-General Lavalle catchment area

Transcript

Transcriptie video Blue Deal Argentina

Voice-over in the studio: “The Blue Deal program has the objective to help 20 million people around the world to gain access to clean, sufficient and safe water by the year 20230.”

Luís Aldao, Hydrological Commission: “Sometimes a large part of the agricultural areas get flooded. And when spring comes, rain is scarce again. At the same time, the huge lagoons here are getting drier causing some parts of the district having to deal with insufficient water while other parts have plenty. So, we are now trying together with the Dutch who also do research here to find a way to deal with this water problem.”

Marcela Laguzi, Dutch Water Authorities: “So I think that if you have to choose now all the effort and focus should be on flood prevention. But most important is that there are no good measures if you cannot maintain them or you cannot operate them. It is really useful for Argentina to improve their water governance. All the organisations that are dealing with water have to do it hand in hand with the stakeholders and with other public administrations. So we are working together with the province, the municipalities and other organisations and also a National Parc to try to make a local organization similar to our water boards with participation from all the actors and where all the actors contribute to solve the problems in time but also financially.”

Maria Ines Goni, Hydrological Commission: “The arrival of the Dutch has ensured that we have an open mind. Because until then we only had to deal with government policy regarding water issues. And now we only realize that we have to participate ourselves. That we also have to learn how to deal with water ourselves and reach an agreement with the manufacturers in the area. This is really thanks to the Dutch, who are known worldwide as experts in the field of water management.”

Pablo Rodrigue, Chief Autoridad del Agua: “We know that the fact that external parties help us to achieve our goals and do our job professionally without thinking about who has the power, helps us to think about long-term effects and that changes the way we work.”

VIDEO

In Argentina, large parts of the agricultural areas sometimes flood. At other times, these areas suffer from drought. Dutch Water Authorities are working with Argentinian partners at a better balance.

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New water management organisation

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New water management organisation

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