Potabilization of Waters for Small Settlements in the Periphery of Buenos Aires City

M.I. LITTER

Cities, Science and Sustainability: Examples of Successful Applications in the South

United Nations Development Programme

Año: 2013;

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 21 per cent of the population of Argentina has no access to a water supply and sanitation and 52 per cent of the people do not have access to a sewage system. The lack of safe drinking water in some places in Argentina, such as isolated rural regions as well as periurban settlements not connected to the public water network, is dramatic. In the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin, a wide industrial zone on the periphery of the city of Buenos Aires that influences more than 5 million people, 35 per cent of the population has no access to potable (drinking) water. Poverty, malnutrition and poor quality of life are major issues there. Water contamination from industrial wastes such as heavy metals and hydrocarbons is of great concern. Arsenic is another important natural pollutant present in groundwater used for drinking purposes.