“La Pampa steals the water from a stream that Mendoza gives it,” denounced the General Department of Irrigation of Mendoza, in the midst of the bid for the flow of the Atuel River.
The General Superintendent of Irrigation of Mendoza, Sergio Marinelli, denounced the drama of the inhabitants of the district of Punta del Agua. And he made the evidence available to the governor of Mendoza, Alfredo Cornejo, so that he can investigate the complaint before the highest court that regulates water resources between the provinces.
The commercial use of the aqueduct implies the breach of an agreement signed between Mendoza and La Pampa in 1992, when the province of Cuyo agreed to provide free water for public consumption to the 6,000 inhabitants of two towns in the Pampas. According to the data provided by the advisor of the Atuel River, Gustavo Villegas, the sale of bottled water It reaches Neuquén.
“On March 6, we were called by residents of Punta del Agua to a meeting for the scarcity of water from the stream that bears the same name. And they showed us screenshots showing a company based in Santa Isabel, La Pampa, that is dedicated to packaging water from the Punta del Agua-Santa Isabel aqueduct. And they sell it,” explained the Mendoza official.
“We began to carry out various investigations and visits to the Pampas province where we found two companies that sold water. A company from the Pampas called “Desierto Pampa”, which is dedicated to bottling water from the district of Punta del Agua and its subsequent sale in various towns in La Pampa, such as 25 de Mayo and the town of Senillosa in the province of Neuquén.”
The second company reported is Santa Isabel, table water, located on Calle 20 de Junio, Santa Isabel, La Pampa. According to the Mendoza government, also sells water from Punta de Agua and bottled in Santa Isabel.
The complaint says that La Pampa controls and endorses these companies. “Desierto Pampa is owned by Fernanda Belén Romero, with address at Mariano Moreno Street N°21 in the town of Santa Isabel, Chalileo department, Province of La Pampa, it is authorized with number 11000431 of the National Establishment Registry and number 11003324 of the National Registry of Food Products by the Ministry of Health of the Department of Food Science of the Government of La Pampa, under resolutions N°603 and N°532”, according to the claim.
And it details that the branch and point of sale “has an address at Avenida Santa Rosa 4528 de 25 de Mayo, La Pampa.”
And the branch and point of sale in the town of Senillosa, “has its address at Paso de los Andes 130, Senillosa, province of Neuquén.”
The company Desierto Pampa, as stated in the authorization files No. 19391/18-MGES and No. 8721/19-MGES, has a water bottling plantwhich advertises on the social network Facebook and packages water for later marketing in 20-liter drums.
During the visits carried out, the Mendoza Irrigation inspectors bought drums at the Santa Isabel and 25 de Mayo branches.
“This fact would imply that The province of La Pampa is violating the agreement signed between the national government and the provinces of La Pampa and Mendozawhich is the owner of that water by provincial law No. 5826/1992, abusing the good faith of Mendoza,” said Marinelli.
And he concluded: “If Mendoza delivers water, free of charge and to satisfy human consumption to La Pampa within the framework of an agreement, we consider that the action of the government of La Pampa contradicts the purpose of said agreement and is incompatible with the position that that province argues in the 2014 lawsuit, For this reason, we ask Governor Cornejo to take the measures that by right correspond to the defense of Mendoza’s water resources.”
The town of Punta del Agua is in a semi-desert area, on the southern border of Mendoza with La Pampa.
This Mendoza district belongs to San Rafael, but the most direct access is through the municipality of General Alvear. The small town is very close to another distant place, Agua Escondida, in the municipality of Malargüe.
