After the onslaught of The Pampa before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation so that Mendoza comply with the 2020 ruling and deliver 3.2 cubic meters per second of water from the Atuel RiverFrom Irrigation they denounced that the neighboring province bottles the water that arrives through the Punta del Agua-Santa Isabel aqueduct and sells it in Río Negro and Neuquén.
30 years ago, the Nihuiles passed into the hands of Mendoza and after an agreement between the provinces and the Nation, Mendoza He committed to building an aqueduct from the town of Punta de Agua to Santa Isabel to supply the residents of the area.
“The Province of Mendoza is committed to delivering the flow of drinking water necessary to satisfy the demand for human use in the towns of Santa Isabel and Algarrobo del Águila in the Province of The Pampa up to a maximum of 6 thousand inhabitants,” says point one of the agreement that the Legislature ratified in 1992.
This is the point on which the Irrigation complaint is based. “The agreement has the force of law for the provinces that sign it and the agreement says that the spring water is to supply the families of Santa Isabel and Algarrobo del Águila. “They have plenty of water, they bottle it and sell it in other provinces,” explained the councilor. Atuel RiverGustavo Villegas.
“Bottling plants demineralize the water, then add other minerals and bottle it. The water is sold in Santa Isabel and Algarrobo del Águila, but it is also sold in other provinces such as Río Negro and Neuquén. “They are not complying with the agreement,” the official added.
Furthermore, Villegas indicated that the municipalities and the province of The Pampa They are aware of the situation because the bottling plants have the permits and authorizations to operate. “They literally sell the water that we give them as part of the agreement while we have people from Punta del Agua complaining because water is scarce,” he said.
From Irrigation they seek that the State Prosecutor denounce before the Court The Pampa for breaching the agreement signed in the ’90s. “They are violating article 41 of the National Constitution. We have all the evidence, we have investigated for two months. Yes today in The Pampa “They can sell the water we send them, it is because they have excess,” he concluded.
The aqueduct that carries spring water
The Punta de Agua-Santa Isabel-Algarrobo del Águila aqueduct runs from San Rafael to the towns northeast of The Pampa. The main project is located in Punta de Agua, a district near the base of Cerro Nevado that guarantees high quality water as it is spring and snowmelt.
From there, the water from the streams is channeled to a filter pond to ensure its quality before being transported through 191 km of asbestos-cement pipe. The diameter of the aqueduct varies between 300 and 150 mm. Due to the steep slope of its route, pumping stations are not required, and the aqueduct is capable of transporting a flow rate close to 100 m3/h.
Of its total extension, only 62 km are located in Pampas territory, divided into two sections. The first culminates in Santa Isabel, where the water is treated through a filtering and chlorination station before being distributed to the town and to the second section of aqueduct that takes the resource to Algarrobo del Águila.
