Legal quality analysis of water services in Buenos Aires, Argentina

MINAVERRY, CLARA MARÍA

Edimburgo

Congreso; XV World Water Congress; 2015

International Water Resources Association

EVALUACIÓN DE TRABAJOS CIENTÍFICOS CON SISTEMA DE REFERATO - The majority of water resources are salty (97.5%), and the rest belongs to lakes, rivers, reservoirs, underground resources, soil humidity, glaciers and snows. This is one of the main reasons why we should pay attention to what sources we consume every day, as this represents a part of a minority. Another limitation in connection with this is water distribution among the world, its quantity and world population location. In South America this equation is positive, because there is more water resources available than people living in this territory (with the exception of the area of Chile). Only 6% of people living in South America have access to the 26% of the world water resources. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the efficacy of selected case law and some regulations regarding piped water service quality in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The territorial area of this paper receives water in a direct way, because it is easy to access to the River Plate. This gives these places a physical advantage if we compare it with other territories of the country. Regarding methodological tool, first, we searched first for regulations and case law in connection with water service quality in Buenos Aires, using the following legal tools: Microjuris, Ecolex and Lexpro. We used the documentary observation method, and the qualitative data were categorized as secondary (regulations and case law). Them, we analyzed three leading cases, which might be useful to set general guidelines for future law projects and public policies in order to achieve a more sustainable service. At the first place, we analyzed regulations regarding water service quality applied to the Province of Buenos Aires such as: a) Decree 878/2003. b) Law 26.221. We could state that there is a legal overlapping between both regulations, because they apply to the same area and oblige different issues in connection with water quality.