Floods increasing in Buenos Aires Salado River Basin

GONZÁLEZ, MARCELA; FERNÁNDEZ, ADRIANA

Environmental change and rational water use.

Eds. Olga Scarpati and Anthony Jones. Orientación Gráfica Editora

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2007; p. 1 - 12

The objective of this paper is to analyse the water excess in the soils during the last twenty years in order to improve the knowledge of the behaviour of the principal hydrological variables in the Pampas Plain. (1) In this region, rainfall and soil water storage have to be monitored in order to minimise the negative impacts of the intense floods that have been taking place more frequently since 1980. Rainfall, water balance and the runoff mean annual cycle during the period 1980-2000, using the Thornwaite and Matter method (1955), were analysed, detecting maximum rainfall in January and minimum in August. However, soil water storage reaches a peak in winter in a great part of Buenos Aires (2). An example of a relevant flood event is shown in the paper. The flood in 2000, which affected the northwest of Buenos Aires and lasted from May to December, was used to analyse some hypothetical experiences. They let conclude that rainfall greater than normal in autumn causes important runoff and the area will probably be flooded the rest of the year because of small evaporation even though rainfall decreases in winter.