Water and sanitation in the Buenos Aires metropolitan region: Fragmented markets, splintering effects?

This paper discusses the provision of water and sanitation services and the related urban impacts in Buenos Aires circa 2005. The first part of the paper focuses on the metropolitan region (BAMR) which is larger than the area served by the Aguas Argentinas S.A. (AASA) concession (i.e. the capital and its conurbano). It highlights a form of institutional fragmentation that is reflected in the diverse management practices of the numerous service providers and results in differentiated levels of and access to services. The paper discusses the technical, economic and regulatory factors that have historically resulted in this institutional fragmentation. The second part of the article focuses on AASA’s water concession agreement. It demonstrates that, although the agreement had an in-built splintering logic, its implementation led to a more “integrated approach” based on the “reality on the ground”. On the whole, the conclusion regarding the application of the splintering urbanism concept to Buenos Aires is a mixed one and depends on the scale of observation. Although at regional level (BAMR), a form of “institutional fragmentation” would appear to be obvious, it is the result of a long and complex historical process and, while recent neo-liberal reforms in service provisions have “cemented” this fragmentation, they did not actually cause it. If we take the AASA service area in isolation, the trend in the decade following the contracting out of the service has been one of improved service provision and access—although this was not achieved through increased integration of the supply system. Finally, in the case of the Buenos Aires metropolitan region, the splintering urbanism thesis defended by Marvin and Graham needs to be nuanced in several significant ways.     

Effects of parasitism and environment on shell size of the South American intertidal mud snail Heleobia australis (Gastropoda)

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of parasitism and certain environmental factors on the shell size of Heleobia australis (Hydrobiidae, Cochliopinae). We report sporocysts and metacercariae of Microphallus simillimus (Microphallidae, Trematoda) parasitizing the gonad and digestive gland of H. australis specimens from two sites of Bahía Blanca estuary, Argentina. The prevalence of infection was significantly higher (34.17% in winter and 68.14% in late spring) in snails from the outer estuary at Site 2 than in those from the inner estuary at Site 1 (5.88% and 4.71% respectively). The only known definitive host for this digenean is the white-backed stilt Himantopus melanurus (Recurvirostridae, Aves), most abundant in the estuary during winter. Parasitism by M. simillimus causes variations in the shell dimensions of H. australis, the shells of infected snails being narrower than those of uninfected snails. Snails from Site 2 were found in general to be significantly smaller than those at Site 1, possibly as a result of differences in environmental factors such as the degree of exposure to wave energy, the allocation of energy to reproduction rather than growth (induced by predation and/or parasitic castrators) and anthropogenic stressors.     

Coastal processes and environmental hazards: the Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Venetian (Italy) littorals

The Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Venice (Italy) coastlands have experienced significant saltwater contamination of the phreatic aquifer, coastal erosion, hydrodynamic changes and relative sea level rise processes due to natural and man-induced factors. These factors expose coastal areas to morpho-hydro-geological hazards, such as soil desertification, frequency and degree of flooding, littoral erosion, and the silting of river mouths and channels. Man-made interventions and actions, such as beach mining, construction of coastal structures and exploitation of aquifers without an adequate knowledge of the hydrology setting and an adequate management program, worsen these natural hazards. Uncontrolled human activity induces environmental damage to the overall coastal plains. The coastal plains play an important role in the social/economic development of the two regions based on land use, such as agriculture, horticulture, breeding, and tourism, as well as industry. Results of investigations on saltwater contamination, sea level rise and morphological changes recently performed in these two coastal areas are presented here.     

Numerical experiments on the generation of long ocean waves in coastal waters of the Buenos Aires province,Argentina

A numerical model (two horizontal dimensions, vertically integrated) is used to investigate the generation of long ocean waves, ranging from 20 min to almost 2 h, at Buenos Aires continental shelf. The domain includes the Río de la Plata estuary and the continental shelf together and extends from 33.5° to 40.5°S latitude, and from 51° to 63°W longitude. Sea-level oscillations are modeled by forcing with passage of atmospheric cold fronts and atmospheric gravity waves. Both forcing mechanisms, which have been present during high activity lapses of long ocean waves, are mathematically implemented. After several numerical simulations, it is concluded that the pressure and wind fields associated to cold fronts do not generate long ocean waves in the area, though they do produce disturbances with periods longer than the tidal ones. On the other hand, it is so concluded that atmospheric gravity waves are an effective mechanism to force long ocean waves. Results obtained show that generation of long ocean waves is highly sensitive depending on the propagation direction and the phase speed of the atmospheric gravity waves. The long ocean wave event detected during the large-amplitude gravity-wave event of 13 October 1985 is successfully simulated. Finally, all our results suggest that atmospheric gravity waves are a highly effective mechanism forcing for the generation of long ocean waves in Buenos Aires coastal waters.     

From “cartoneros” to “recolectores urbanos”. The changing rhetoric and urban waste management policies in neoliberal Buenos Aires

This study contributes to the existent literature on neoliberal urban governance examining the process-based character of this formation. I maintain that neoliberal governance is a fluid and evolving formation which is continuously being constructed and reconstructed beneath a rhetorical veneer of inevitable emergence and permanence. In this context, this work examines the interconnections between neoliberal urban ascendancy, changing rhetoric and urban waste management policies, and waste pickers (cartoneros), in a case study setting, Buenos Aires. Since 2002, the neoliberal urban governance in Buenos Aires (its institutions, programs and policies) has mobilized different rhetoric and policies to negotiate the waste pickers’ “disturbing” and “dirty” presence in the streets. In that process, the waste pickers, originally marginalized and stigmatized by the neoliberal discourse, have been regulated and disciplined into legal and “well behaved” workers. I would argue that, regulating this activity does not entail giving the waste pickers an opportunity to become central actors in the future of urban waste management in the city. Rather, it is compatible with the logic of the local neoliberal urban projects, focused on disciplining the city’s physical and social landscape as new opportunities for growth and development continue to emerge.     

Spatial distribution of canine faeces in Buenos Aires suburbs: implications for public health

Canine faecal contamination contributes to environmental degradation and increases the exposure of humans – mainly children – to helminth infections. We studied the magnitude and spatial distribution of faecal contamination on the pavements of two neighbourhoods representative of Buenos Aires suburbs. The pavements of a low-income neighbourhood (LIN) and a middle-income neighbourhood (MIN) were selected at random. Field maps including all substrates and objects observed on each pavement were drawn, viewed from above, on millimetre paper at 1:100 scale. Data were then loaded into a geographic information system (GIS) Arc View 3.1 with a digitiser board. The spatial distribution of faeces and its association with substrates or standing elements were analysed at three scales: substrate, pavement and neighbourhood.
Permeable substrate cover was higher in LIN (75%) than in MIN (35%). The faeces were not homogeneously distributed on the substrates. In both neighbourhoods, the substrates with >50 per cent grass cover showed a significantly higher proportion of faeces than those with <50 per cent grass cover, bare soil and tile. At pavement scale, the number of faeces on pavements was not related to either the number of trees, posts and domiciled dogs in the block, or with the number of faeces and percentage cover of each substrate. At patch scale, substrate patches with faeces were larger than those without faeces. Patches with faeces did not differ in shape between neighbourhoods and were more regularly shaped than patches without faeces.
The spatial distribution of faeces relative to each other was almost random, even when analysed in relation to trees or standing objects. Strategies for the sustainable control of this problem are suggested.     

Whale watching, the Buenos Aires Group and the politics of the International Whaling Commission

Whale watching is now reputed to be a $2 billion a year industry. This industry has the potential to impact the politics of whaling, specifically the moratorium on all commercial whaling in three ways: by creating political and economic counterweights to whalers, by countering claims about who may legitimately manage whales and to what end and by transforming views about whales and whaling both within whaling states and beyond. This article examines whale watching in Latin America and the Caribbean and the alliance of Latin American and Caribbean members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) known as the Buenos Aires Group (BAG). The BAG group has emerged as coherent group opposing the ending of the moratorium and championing the views of whale watchers. The article finds that whale watching creates a politically important interest group in an area lacking whaling operations; it argues that these regional opponents of whaling provide a counter weight to charges that opposition to whaling is exclusively the providence of rich, urban citizens of developed countries and draw upon politically powerful frames in justifying their opposition to the lifting of the moratorium. Finally, it finds limited evidence that whale-watching is associated with a rise in general concern for marine mammals in the region. There remains the question, however, of what the future of whale watching in the region will be over the longer term.     

Zircon and Titanite U–Pb SHRIMP dating of unexposed basement units of the Buenos Aires region,southeastern Río de La Plata Craton,Argentina

ABSTRACT

We present U–Pb Sensitive High Mass Resolution Ion MicroProbe (SHRIMP) data of unexposed igneous-metamorphic basement rocks from two areas of the southeastern Río de la Plata craton (RPC; Buenos Aires city) located within the Buenos Aires–Piedra Alta (BAPA) terrane – and the Tapalqué area (Buenos Aires province) – located within the Tandilia terrane, and discuss the tectonic evolution of that portion of the craton based on both the new data and previous work. The newly obtained geochronological data of drill cores indicate that: (a) arc magmatism occurred at 2164–2186 Ma corresponding to early ‘Trans-Amazon’ (early Rhyacian) arc magmatism; (b) the age of collision between the BAPA and Tandilia terranes is inferred to have commenced at ca. 2110 Ma; (c) peak metamorphism occurred at ca. 2069 Ma; and (d) the presence of rocks related to the RPC is confirmed under Cenozoic sediments in a large area between Martin Garcia Island and Tandil. We envisage an early Rhyacian divergent double subduction scheme between the BAPA and Tandilia terranes – i.e. N-dipping towards BAPA and S-dipping towards Tandilia – prior to the late Rhyacian collision between these two terranes.     

Macrobioerosion and Microbioerosion in Marine Molluscan Shells from Holocene and Modern Beaches (39°−40°S, South of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina)

The marine sediments of the area of Verde Peninsula-Jabali Island(39°28′S/62°19′W-40°28′S/62°11′W) Holocene in age(3-2 ky),and modern beaches contain a significant amount of bioeroded mollusc shells.Fifteen sites were analyzed,in which 20.11%of the mollusc shells(2168 valves) presented bioerosion traces,in 54 species(30 bivalves and 24 gastropods).Fourteen ichnogenera were reported:Entobia,Maeandropoiydora,Iramena,Caulostrepsis,Pennatichnus,Pinaceocladichnus,Trypanites,and Gastrochaenolites(Domichnia),Gnathichnus and Radulichnus(Pascichnia),Finichnus and Centrichnus(Fixichnia),Oichnus(Praedicnia)(macrobioerosion),y Semidendrina(microbioerosion),the latter is first reported in mollusc shells in Argentina.Eleven ichnospecies were identified Finichnus peristroma,Maeandropoiydora sulcans,Gnathichnus pentax,Pinaceocladichnus onubensis,Caulostrepsis taeniola,Centrichnus eccentricus,Radulichnus inopinatus,Oichnus simplex,Oichnus paraboloides,Oichnus gradatus,and Gastrochaenolites torpedo(lithic remains).The dominant ichnogenera in the Holocene deposits are Iramena,Entobia and Oichnus.The same ichnogenera are constant with different abundance in the modern beaches,and increasing representation of Pinaceocladichnus and Pennatichnus.The dominant ichnofacies in the Holocene deposits is Trypanites,revealing a benthonic marine community composed of cheilostome bryzoans,clionaid sponges,predator gastropods,regular echinoids,polychaete annelids,bivalves,thallophytas and fungi.Generally,the area was described as a sublittoral,low-energy,stable environment with high rate of oxygenation,and sandy bottoms,with rocky bottoms at Villalonga locality.