Based on a new report, based on information generated by official organizations of the government of Mendozathe government of La Pampa said that it is confirmed that the river brings sufficient flow to comply with the 2020 Supreme Court ruling, so that the economic and environmental damage stops.
In the framework of case 243/2014, the highest court decided to establish a cminimum permanent flow rate of 3.2 m3 per second for the Atuel River on the border between the provinces of La Pampa and Mendoza.
He objective is to stop the environmental damage caused by Mendoza due to the lack of runoff from that river in Pampas territory, until the underlying issue is resolved.
Four years after that ruling, never fulfilled, a technical study shows that the river has more than enough water and encourages a new wave of claims and measures, judicial and political, by the administration headed by Sergio Ziliotto.
The report in question was prepared by the Pampas portion of the Interprovincial Committee of Atuel Inferior (CIAI), which includes representatives of both the plaintiff and the defendant.
The unanimous conclusion is that There is water available in the Atuel basin, that Mendoza illegally retains.
“HE The argument that the flow of the Atuel River is deficient falls flatly: There is water! All that is needed is for Mendoza to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Not only letting the water flow towards La Pampa but also accepting that the management of the basin must be shared and efficient. The Atuel River is also pampas. There are no longer excuses to stop his definitive return,” said Governor Ziliotto.
The report also reports on the inefficient resource management, over-irrigation practices to feed the underground layers to the detriment of the downstream flow and the increase in the number of water reservoirs, which went from 160 to 260 since the 2020 ruling was known, which will be presented as evidence before the highest court.
The Pampas government maintains that the discretionary management of the Atuel by Mendoza, which began with the cutting of the river by the construction of the Nihuiles at the end of the 1940s and was deepened by the total use of its waters in the oasis of San Rafael from the seventies, explains to a large extent the exponential development of wine-growing activity in a province and the environmental degradation and desertification of more than one million hectares in the other.
In addition to the lawsuit filed in Court, La Pampa made a presentation before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).
The report, and the consequent judicial presentation, coincide with other good news for La Pampa.
The announcement by Mendoza governor Alfredo Cornejo that the funds raised for the construction of the Portezuelo del Viento dam will be used for other purposes, thus ending the controversial work.
