ENVIRONMENT-LATAM: Sustainable Management of Giant Aquifer

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 25 2000 (IPS) - The members of the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur) trade bloc have decided to research, make better use of and protect the Guarani aquifer, one of the world’s biggest reserves of subterranean water, and a shared resource that opens up a new area of cooperation in South America.

The aquifer extends 1.3 million square kms in the four countries comprising South America’s leading trade bloc, encompassing southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, eastern Paraguay and the northern half of Uruguay. Two-thirds of the aquifer are under Brazilian jurisdiction.

The aquifer, the size of Spain, France and Britain combined, could supply the water needs of 360 million people — more than the total population of South America.

“It is worth more than gold” for the future of a world that is already suffering water shortages in several regions, said Ernani Rosa Filho, who drafted a preliminary project that has World Bank backing and will prompt the four Mercosur member countries to organise a plan for the sustainable, integrated management of the aquifer.

But studies have yet to be carried out on the immense potential and characteristics of the aquifer, which already totally or partially meets the water needs of more than 400 municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo, where the water table is closest to the surface.

Few are aware that one of the main sources of tourist revenues in Uruguay, the thermal springs of Dayman, Queguay and Wabiyu, form part of the Guaraní aquifer, added Rosa Filho, a professor at the Federal University of Parana in southern Brazil.

Representatives of the four countries met with World Bank technicians earlier this month in Santa Fe, in central Argentina, to agree on joint activities aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of the aquifer.

The meeting agreed to set up a High Council comprised of three representatives of each of the four Mercosur governments to direct the works, and an eight-month timeframe was set for coming up with a blueprint for the research to be carried out in each country in the next four months.

The World Bank, through its environmental arm, the Global Environment Facility, will donate 14 million dollars towards the phase of conducting scientific research on the aquifer, which is to cost a total of 25 million dollars, and in which universities in the region will play a key role.

But the programme also focuses on two other dimensions — institutional coordination and communication campaigns, on one hand, and follow-up of the work done on the other.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) must have a large say in these activities, as “an instrument of dialogue with society,” and to oversee the uses to which the funding is put, maintained Leonardo Morelli, president of ‘Shout of the Waters’, an environmentalist umbrella group linking 18 NGOs in southern Brazil.

The works aimed at conserving the aquifer — such as the laying in of sewerage systems in some areas — and exploring its potential could involve as much as one billion dollars in investment, a sum that would require some form of social oversight and control, the activist argued.

‘Shout of the Waters’ is concerned about the risks of pollution of the aquifer, especially where the underground water is close to the surface. Problems are posed, for example, by pig farms and coal mines in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, Morelli pointed out.

The umbrella grouping is pleased that it was allowed to take part in the meeting in Santa Fe, and that it obtained a seat on the committee that will supervise the project, although as a “minority among minorities,” given the fact that NGOs from the rest of the bloc’s members have not yet been invited to participate.

The Guarani aquifer takes its name from an indigenous group that lives in southern Brazil and Paraguay. But it is also known by other names, like the Botucatu-Piramboia in Sao Paulo, or the Giant Mercosur aquifer.

The aquifer is especially vulnerable to pollution where its waters are near the surface and are heavily used, such as in Ribeirao Preto, a city of 500,000 in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo, the needs of which are completely supplied by subterranean water sources.

But the level of awareness on the need to protect the aquifer must be raised among the four Mercosur member countries and the eight Brazilian states that share the resource, said Ricardo Hirata, a professor de hydro-geology at the University of Sao Paulo, who pointed out that awareness varied widely.

Hirata explained that there are areas where the water table is located more than 1,000 metres down, safe from the risk of contamination, but also difficult if not impossible to use, due to the high costs that would entail.

Another question is the overall quality of the water. Although in many areas it is drinkable, in others it contains excessive amounts of flouride.

Rosa Filho stressed the immense potential of the aquifer, ranging from thermal springs as tourist attractions to supplying the needs of urban areas and industry.

In places where water temperature is above 50 degrees Celsius, for example, the aquifer can be exploited not only by endeavours targetting tourists, but also by industry, which can cut the energy use and costs involved in heating water or installations.

Drilling wells in cities where the underground water is of high quality, meanwhile, can slash costs to just 20 percent of the expense involved in treating and bringing in water from distant rivers and springs, Rosa Filho added.