Cost of remediation of the Luján River (Argentina).

ADONIS GIORGI

Ecosystems and sustainable development III

Wessex Institute

Lugar: Southampton; Año: 2001; p. 563 - 570

The objective of this study was to estimate the theoretical investment needed for the remediation of water contamination in the upper and middle course of the Luján River (Buenos Aires province, Argentina). Two source of data were used: a) a monthly sampling in the river that lasted 29 months, and b) the Environmental Record of the Municipality of Luján, where the estimated effluent discharges of the industries and the city of Luján are registered. Relating the biological oxygen demand (BOD) and the chemical oxygen demand (QOD) with the dissolved oxygen concentration in water, the number of days needed to produce the depuration of the river was estimated. In addition to this, and supposing that all the effluents that flow into the river do not exceed the DBO standards established by the legislation, the amount of oxygen needed to complete the self-depuration process of the river and the economic valued of this process were estimated. Our results indicate that if industrial and sewage discharges were released in adequate conditions, the Luján River has the capacity to depurate these effluents. Nevertheless, in the actual conditions the ?work? needed to process the effluents exceeds from 3 to 10 times the real capacity of the river. To attain a sustainable use of the river, including recreation activities, it is essential to reduce the load of effluents, or to distribute the cost of river remediation among the main pollutant industries.