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The governor of La Pampa, Sergio Ziliotto, claimed before the Supreme Court of Justice the quota of flow of the Atuel River that in his opinion Mendoza owes him.
“It is being irrigated on unproductive lands. “They are watering a winery, in times where it is not justified from a phenological point of view, they are assigning the same amount that the Court established for the entry of the province of La Pampa,” the Pampas president assured a Buenos Aires newspaper.
Before the proposal, In mid-May the Supreme Court of Justice asked Mendoza and the Nation to respondwithin 10 days, the report presented by La Pampa in which “it shows that there is enough water to comply with the ruling for the Atuel River”.
What La Pampa is asking is for the court to enforce the 2020 resolution that ordered Mendoza to release the disbursement of 3.2 m3/s. of the flow. From Mendoza it has been repeatedly argued that it is not possible to comply with that resolution simply because there is not that amount of water.
►IT MAY INTEREST YOU: Waters of the Atuel River: Omar Félix joins the conclave that Molero called due to the complaints from La Pampa
Mendoza’s response
After the meeting with the mayors, Marinelli reviewed the battle that Mendoza has been waging for the flow of the Atuel River and explained why the Province maintains its position that it is impossible to give La Pampa what it demands, simply because the river does not It has the necessary flow.
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The conflict with La Pampa over the Atuel River generated a meeting of the three mayors of the South, their legislators and the head of Irrigation, Sergio Marinelli.
“The Court said 4 years ago that 3.2 cubic meters per second must be given at the limit based on an agreement between the Nation, La Pampa and Mendoza, based on works and actions. And those works had to be financed by all three parties. An agreement had to be reached and he put that flow, which apparently does not respond to any logic. We have been discussing technically and politically for four years now, we have proposed and a works plan is on file to progressively achieve that flow, and they say that it must be given at any cost without any type of work,” he summarized.
According to the Irrigation Superintendent, this Monday’s meeting sought to unite the political strength of the three mayors, who respond to different political parties (Omar Félix and Celso Jaque are Peronists, and the communal chief of Alvear, Alejandro Molero is radical) and legislators from the South to unify the province’s position regarding the Pampas claim, which is based on the fact that this year the river did have more flow to share it with them.
“We have been in drought for more than 10 years. This year, which is an almost normal, almost average year, does not cover the demand. Then they do a whole technical reasoning with the management of the reservoirs and the reservoir does not give more water, what it does is manage the water we have. And this year is the first time that we are close, but we have not been able to satisfy local demand, which is what the crops consume, what the people consume, what the industry consumes,” said Marinelli.
And he added that the province of Mendoza already gave its arguments in the response it gave at the request of the Court.
We have not yet managed to complete the 75,000 hectares that the Court had given us. We want people to know the other side of the coin, what is happening to the people of Mendoza We have not yet managed to complete the 75,000 hectares that the Court had given us. We want people to know the other side of the coin, what is happening to the people of Mendoza
“This has a political solution”
“We are convinced that this has a political resolution and on which we have to work and that for that we need this unity, the participation of everyone, agreeing on the axes in which we want to advance and based on that make the necessary demands, the necessary actions to reach good end”, noted the Alvearense mayor, Alejandro Molero.
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The mayors of the South -Celoso Jaque, Alejandro Molero and Omar Félix- agreed that the conflict with La Pampa over the Atuel River has a political solution.
Omar Felixhighlighted the need to resolve the conflict con political negotiation, combined with technical solutions and financing. Concerned about the judicialization of the issue by La Pampa, he highlighted the Nation’s responsibility in the conflict and Mendoza’s contribution to the development of La Pampa with water and that works are needed for this.
“We committed to continue working in search of a joint solution, It is a problem for all Mendoza residents and we need to find a political and technical agreementand ensuring active participation in upcoming meetings in support of the governor of the province,” he concluded.
The mayor of Malargue Celso Jaque agreed with his peers and assured that we must commit to a political negotiation “so that what It can be agreed from the technical point of view that it is feasible. Today what we are doing here is make political will visible in the face of a problem that we have and in the face of something that generates a certain amount of noise and concern, which is the fact that the province of La Pampa has made a presentation in the Supreme Court of the Nation.”
He believed that the Nation should get involved because it was the first to regulate the Atuel River at a time when La Pampa was not a province.
“Somehow it is evident that they do not want to find a political solution, although they have solutions. But without forgetting something else, the province of Mendoza contributes to the development of La Pampa with water. It does it from Punta del Agua to Santa Isabel with an aqueduct, but it also does it from Malargue, because from Agua Escondida, part of the water we have there reaches some sectors of La Ahumada and then this cannot be ignored because it exists and has existed. always a willingness to want to find a solution,” Jaque concluded.
