DRR-Team Mission Report Argentina October 11- 15, 2016
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20 December 2016 Mission Report, Final
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DRR-TEAM Argentina
Document title Mission Report Status Final Date 20 December 2016 Project name DRRT mission Argentina
Photos made available by Klaas de Groot Reference
Written by Klaas de Groot, Marcela Laguzzi, Marina Gaton, Irene Pohl, Otto de Keizer Checked by RVO / Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Buenos Aires, Argentina Date/initials check Approved by
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SUMMARY
Between 11-15 October a follow up mission of the Dutch Risk Reduction (DRR) Program (Annex A) took place to Argentina. The Mission focused on flood risk challenges in the Rio Salado Basin as well as flood risk challenges in other regions of the country. Support was solicited by the Government of Argentina to the Dutch Government to provide assistance in the evaluation of the activities that are carried out to reduce flood risks. There is a need for finding an integrated approach for flood risk management in general and for management of the Rio Salado, a river basin South – South West of the city of Buenos Aires, in particular. With 170.000 km2, this river
Figure 1 Location of the Rio Salado Catchment basin is, in respect to size, comparable to the Rhine River Basin. Other provinces that are located in the Pampa region (e.g. Cordoba and Santa Fe) cope with comparable challenges as these regions are very flat and only drain slowly. The mission team was composed of five representatives of the Dutch Water Sector:
Klaas de Groot - integrated water resources management (IWRM) Marcela Laguzzi - water governance Marina Gaton – water quality Otto de Keizer – monitoring systems and early warning systems Irene Pohl – financing, funding and cost benefit analysis
The Netherlands Embassy in Buenos Aires, together with the Subsecretario de Recursos Hídricos (Under secretariat of water resources) organized the mission and attended all meetings. The program can be found in Annex B. International Financing Institutions showed great interest in the results of the mission and the World Bank has participated in the mission to the Rio Salado. The sub secretariat of water resources of the province of Buenos Aires is responsible for the water works in the province and has introduced us to the challenges in the two focus areas.
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The DRR-Team would like to thank everybody who has made this mission possible and shared with us their knowledge on water management related challenges in Argentina and the Province of Buenos Aires. A list of workshop participants and the people interviewed can be found in Annex C. A mutual interest clearly exists in managing the water system in an integrated manner. Sharing information and experiences has led to new opportunities and insights on how to integrate water management and facilitate socio-economic and environmental development.
Figure 2 Mission team visiting the Rio Salado (Section III interventions)
Integrated water resources management
Many opportunities exist to manage the water resources in a more integrated manner. Ground water and surface water management need to be combined and water quality and water quantity are also treated separately. The lack of coordination between responsible authorities prevents anticipation of opportunities to combine interventions. In the integrated planning, the Plan Nacional del Agua (2016) has to be used as a mainframe to develop an integrated water plan for the province of Buenos Aires and other provinces. The provincial plan should guide the development of individual river basin management plans. It is recommended to start in the province with a water plan at provincial level as well as on one or two basins. A parallel development of the planning instruments will provide new experience on different strategic and operational levels. This experience will enrich the documents at these levels. Learning by doing should also be the strategy to strengthen the Autoridad de Agua of the provincial under secretariat of water resources (AdA) in their responsibility related to planning IWRM. AdA has to be in the lead for writing these plans, while coaching and training during the elaboration of the plans will enable the AdA to build the required capacity. There are valuable sources of information on hydrology (INA) and land use (INTA) in the basin. However, communication between the actors needs to be improved to assure that information is delivered in a usable format or that the availability is known at all. Improved communication between the Subsecretario de Recursos Hidricos and institutions like INA (Instituto Nacional de Agua) and INTA (Instituto Nacional de Technologia Agricola) could lead to more effective and efficient use of available information. Better definition of the information need of the responsible
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authorities would enable research/knowledge institutions to focus their field research on these specific aspects. Some of the challenges and ideas generated during the week were also discussed with international financing institutions, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. They acknowledge the need for integrated plans for the long term (financial and technical), not only for the Río Salado, and see opportunities for public private partnerships in this regard. Governance
During an intensive 2-day workshop governance was discussed with the Buenos Aires Province Water Authority (Autoridad de Agua - AdA) and other stakeholders. Good water governance is a prerequisite for IWRM. Various aspects of governance were covered. The 3-layer model of the Netherlands Water Governance Centre and the OECD-gap analysis framework were used to analyze how water governance is organized for the Rio Salado Basin. This workshop and dialogues with stakeholders (mayors, agriculture associations, individual agriculture producers and representatives of other provincial and national ministries) led to the conclusions that there is a need to work on a shared and integrated vision on the development of the water system, the objectives to be achieved and the organizational structure that would serve best to do this. An inclusive approach is necessary to secure cooperation of all actors. A communication strategy has to assure that all actors know what will be done and who will be responsible. Initiatives should also include training and education programs for younger generations to raise awareness on flood risks and waste disposal and pave the way for a transition to living with water instead of fighting against water. The new organizational structure has to be financed in a transparent manner. Knowing what stakeholders pay for will increase their willingness to pay. Information on these funds as well as any other information should be made accessible. Exchange of information will facilitate the procedures to approve for new developments taking in to consideration the effect these developments have on the water system.
Monitoring and Early Warning Systems
Both on the national as well as the provincial level, a lot of interest exists for the development of monitoring and early warning systems. The current availability of hydrological data and information is recognized as a limiting factor for the management of river basins and hydrological risks in Argentina. Monitoring networks are a priority and an important basis for (cost effective) river basin planning and early warning system.
The existing hydrological and meteorological networks depend on federal institutions that maintain a limited monitoring density. The actual investments in flood prevention and water quality management are substantial. This has been paid by public funds (Fondo Hídrico). Improving data availability is fundamental to monitor the effects of implemented interventions and to improve model simulations used to support planning and decision making processes. Providing up-to-date information and early warnings of extreme events to its inhabitants is crucial to reduce risks. Flooding in the Rio Salado basin are mainly slow events that take days to weeks that affect the agricultural sector and some villages. There is sufficient lead time to take necessary measures to reduce social and economic damage. A main challenge will be to create the necessary institutional capacity within the province for hydro-meteorological and water quality monitoring which guarantees operation and maintenance in the long term, as well as an
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appropriate use of the data. The monitoring networks from federal institutions provide a first basis that can be complemented with a provincial monitoring network for the Salado basin based on the local needs for water management and early warning. At this moment, there are insufficient monitoring stations and some of the equipment is obsolete.
Funding/financing and cost recovery mechanisms
During the mission, special attention was given to economic and financial aspects. There are many challenges and opportunities to fund and finance water resilience projects. Costs are normally well defined while benefits are less defined, nor monitored. Improving the cost benefit analysis in pre- and post-project evaluation will increase insight in effectiveness of the interventions proposed (and potential alternatives) and as such will help in communicating the need for these interventions. International experience on innovative funding and financing solutions, with a focus on the long term, including (land) value capture mechanisms and PPPs can assist Argentina in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. There is a great need for economic valuation of the works in the Rio Salado basin in order to understand costs and benefits and to see whether additional interventions can be justified. Such an analysis could lead to improving the plans for the remainder of the water works. Operation and maintenance is an important issue that has to be addressed soon to ensure benefits in the long term. An economic assessment will also enable the province to identify the main beneficiaries and to identify opportunities for cost recovery and/or continuous contributions for operational costs by these beneficiaries. The works that are proposed for section IV and V of the Rio Salado will lead to economic opportunities for the agricultural sector. The reduction of flood risks can lead to both an increased productivity through a more steady and intensified production (‘more of the same’) and can also stimulate investments, such as a shift towards a more profitable crop or production method. The soil dredged from the river to increase the discharge capacity, can be stored in a ‘Soil Bank’ and if suitable sold to be used at construction sites. Other positive effects are social development and improved education, transportation and health. Beneficiaries are willing to discuss how they can participate in operation and maintenance but clarity on roles and responsibilities is a prerequisite. Shared interest exists in further discussion on new business models for better financial feasibility of the works. The idea of a soil bank, selling dredged soils, is to be further developed.
Water quality
Water quality is an important issue in the Rio Salado basin as well as in other basins. Pressure on the water system varies from basin to basin. Pressure on the Rio Salado is mainly caused by agriculture (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) while a basin like the Rio Lujan is primarily impacted by the high urbanization ratio and the contamination (solid waste, untreated water, industrial effluents, etc.) that reaches the water system. Both basins were visited. In many urban areas, the sanitation system could be improved. Water treatment plants do not operate properly and waste water flows directly in to the river. In the National Water Plan, it is indicated that 75% of the population should be connected to a properly functioning sanitation system and 100% to drinking water. This poses huge challenges to the authorities. The task that lies ahead of the water company from Buenos Aires is immense, they must provide sanitation to about 15 million people. Most of the industrial activities have no proper pretreatment. There is a need for stronger collaboration and coordination. Instruments to assure that industry complies with the existing norms are needed. Being able to impose fines for those who don’t comply would be a first
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important step. Solid waste management is also a challenge that affects water quality and the capacity of streams and rivers to discharge water. In relation to quantity the spectacular coverage of the borders of the Rio Lujan by the Acacia Negra is posing serious problems. Large maintenance programs have started to remove the vegetation and solutions are sought for the use of the vegetation harvested. Construction of biomass plants to produce energy is being investigated to assess their economic feasibility. Water quality aspects are not included in master plans for the basins as these masterplans contain basically only lists of the water works that have to be implemented to reduce flood risks. Integrating water quality in these plans is yet to be initiated. Only then integrated and coordinated action will be feasible. This will also increase the environmental awareness that is still lacking. Communication and stakeholder participation in facing these challenges has to be strengthened. Ambitions in the national water plan are immense and a lot of work has to be carried out in the years to come.
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CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION 13 1.1 DRR Mission to Argentina 13 1.2 Approach for the mission / objectives 15
2 WATER CHALLENGES IN ARGENTINA 18 2.1 Floods in Argentina 18 2.2 Challenges in the Rio Salado Basin 20 2.3 Integrated Planning of the Rio Salado basin 24 2.3.1 Water system related needs (social, economic, environmental) of stakeholders 24 2.3.2 Facilitating water system related needs through IWRM 25 2.3.3 Opportunities for more effective and efficient use of water resources 26 2.3.4 Interventions towards sustainable water resource and flood risk management 26 2.3.5 Integration of plans 28
3 WATER GOVERNANCE 31 3.1 Introduction 31 3.2 Water Governance Workshop 31 3.3 Recommendations to improve water governance in the Salado Basin 34 3.4 Roadmap to improve water governance at the Rio Salado Basin. 37 3.5 Roadmap “Support to strengthen Institutional setting” 38
4 MONITORING AND EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS 39 4.1 Activities 39 4.2 Main findings and key recommendations 39 4.2.1 Monitoring and Early Warning: a priority on the provincial and national levels 39 4.2.2 Flood early warning systems 40 4.2.3 Institutional capacity 41 4.2.4 Design of a flood early warning system 43 4.3 Salado Basin 43 4.4 Conclusions and recommendations 44
5 WATER QUALITY 46 5.1 Activities 46 5.2 Main findings and key recommendations 47 5.2.1 Sources of contamination 47 5.2.2 Quality control 48
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5.2.3 Institutional organisation 48 5.3 Conclusions 49
6 ECONOMIC ANALYSIS 50 6.1 Activities 50 6.2 Economic assessment and socio-economic development opportunities 50 6.2.1 Current status of information on economic development opportunities 50 6.2.2 Building upon previous experience 51 6.2.3 Economic assessment and project funding 51 6.2.4 Stakeholders 52 6.2.5 Economic development opportunities in the Río Salado basin 52 6.2.6 Socio-economic benefits in the Río Salado basin 53 6.2.7 Integrated projects and added benefits 54 6.2.8 Recommendations and development opportunities 54 6.3 Funding and financing - short, medium and long term 54 6.4 Funding 56 6.4.1 National Water Fund 56 6.4.2 Provincial budgets for maintenance of large water projects 57 6.4.3 Cost-recovery and opportunities for the creation of a dedicated fund 57 6.4.4 Funding maintenance through re-use of material 58 6.5 Financing 59 6.5.1 International finance institutions 59 6.5.2 Public Private Partnerships 61 6.6 Recommendations with regard to funding and financing: 62
7 OVERARCHING ASSESSMENT OF RECOMMENDATIONS 63
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ANNEX A – DRR-TEAM 66
ANNEX B – PROGRAM 67
ANNEX C – WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS AND PERSONS INTERVIEWED 73
ANNEX D - ROADMAP PROVINCIAL WATER PLAN 75
ANNEX E – ROADMAP WATER GOVERNANCE 81
ANNEX F – ROADMAP MONITORING AND EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS 85
ANNEX G – ROADMAP COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS 88
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ABSA Aguas Bonaerenses S.A. ADA Autoridad del Agua Buenos Aires Province AMSL Above Mean Sea Level AyA Acuaductos y Alcantarillados CABA Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, CAF Andean Development Corporation – Development Bank of Latin America / Corporación Andina de Fomento – Banco de desarrollo del América Latina CARBAP Confederación de Asociaciones Rurales de Buenos Aires y La Pampa CEAMSE Coordinación Ecológica Área Metropolitana Sociedad del Estado COHIFE Consejo Hidrico Federal COMILU Comité De Cuenca Del Río Luján COREBE Comisión Regional del río Bermejo DRR-T Dutch Risk Reduction Team EKN Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands ENSO El Niño Southern Oscillation FEWS Flood Early Warning System IADB / BID Inter-American Development Bank / Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo INA Instituto Nacional del Agua INTA Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria IWRM Integrated Water Resources Management NGO’s Non-Governmental Organizations OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OPDS Organismo Provincial para el Desarrollo Sostenible PNA Prefectura Naval de Argentina PNUD Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo RVO Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland / Netherlands Enterprise Agency SMN Servicio Meteorológico Nacional WB / BM World Bank / Banco Mundial
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1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 DRR Mission to Argentina
Floods are a recurrent problem in many regions of Argentina, with the main impact concentrated in the center and north east/west of the territory. There are several river basins that cross these provinces: Río Reconquista, Río Paraná, Río Paraguay, Río Uruguay, Río Salado, and many others. In the Province of Buenos Aires alone there are 56 individual basins of different sizes and characteristics. This province is basically a big delta, with the well-known water related problems that this implies. In these regions, the highest agricultural and livestock values are concentrated. This means that every flood has immense economic, social and political impact. In some regions, water logging is a common problem, it takes months before the land recovers and is suitable for agricultural activity again.
This also has an important logistical impact, as the majority of the agricultural goods are transported by road, which can be blocked for weeks because of flooding. This disrupts the whole value chain, causing economic and financial losses to farmers. The province of Buenos Aires has 17 million inhabitants (39% of the total population of Argentina), and represents 37% of the country´s GDP. Hence, the impact is felt not only in the province, but country wide.
During meetings between Argentinian and Dutch officials, the Argentinian government expressed the request for cooperation and assistance on two subjects: 1. Advice regarding the vulnerability and risk of the City of Bahia Blanca and surrounding area due to various problems related to the "Dique (dike) Paso de las Piedras" 2. Assistance in the review of the Hydraulic Plan for the Rio Salado Basin
It was agreed to carry out an emergency mission that focuses on giving advice regarding Dique Paso de la Piedras and making an inventory of the present and foreseen water system related problems associated with the Rio Salado Basin and the Hydraulic Plan that was developed in 1999. The results of this mission are presented in the DRRT Report: DRR-Team Mission Report, Argentina: Dique Paso de las Piedras – emergency mission and Rio Salado – pre-scoping mission, May 29 – June 4, 2016. The pre-scoping mission led to the follow up mission focusing on integrated flood risk management that is covered in this report.
This follow-up mission focused on flood risk management challenges in the Río Salado basin, while assessing challenges in other basins as well. Recommendations that result from this mission are to be used to arrive at a more integrated approach towards river basin management. More specifically the mission has covered the following issues: 1. Institutional capacity-building / governance structures of the management of the basin committees. 2. Catchment monitoring systems and automation of basin management. 3. Water quality and energy production with Biomass
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4. Financial aspects of basin management (funding instruments for Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and new projects, as well as the development of new infrastructure projects that are bankable, feasible and sustainable) 5. River Basin Management –Environmental aspects, land use and economic development
The mission team consisted of five representatives of the Dutch Water Sector: Klaas de Groot - Integrated Water Resources Management Marcela Laguzzi / Water Governance Marina Gaton – Water Quality Otto de Keizer – Monitoring systems and early warning systems Irene Pohl – Financing, funding and Cost Benefit Analysis
The Netherlands Embassy in Buenos Aires and the Under secretariat for Water Resources of the province of Buenos Aires organized the mission and attended all meetings. The program can be found in Annex B. International Financing Institutions showed great interest in the results of the mission and the World Bank participated in the mission to the Rio Salado. The sub secretariat of water resources of the province of Buenos Aires is responsible for the water works in the province and has introduced us to the challenges in the two focus areas.
During the workshops and bilateral meetings, a lot of information was shared. In Annex C a list of workshop participants and the people interviewed can be found. There clearly exists a shared interest in managing the water system in an integrated manner. Sharing information and experiences has led to new opportunities and insights on how to integrate water management and facilitate socio-economic and environmental development.
The results of this mission will be presented in this report covering above-mentioned issues. These recommendations are the outcome of desk research and bilateral meetings, field visits and workshops organized by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN), all within the confined scope of the mission.
Chapter 2 will provide an overview of the water management challenges in Argentina in general and for the Rio Salado more specifically. Chapter 3 will then cover the findings of the workshops that were organized to arrive at the institutional setting necessary for effective and efficient management of the Rio Salado basin. These results can also be extrapolated to other basins. In Chapter 4 an overview will be given of what is needed to gather sufficient information to support sound decision-making and how this information can be used to develop early warning systems. Chapter 5 will summarize recommendations related to water quality challenges and will discuss how it can be assessed whether a bio mass plant can have an added value for the production of energy from the vegetation that is being harvested in the flood prone areas of the river. In chapter 6 the reader will find guidelines for the analysis of costs and benefits of the interventions needed to reduce flood risks. This chapter will also provide ideas on the various instruments that can be used to fund and finance interventions as well as long term operation and maintenance to improve the sustainability of the projects.
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During the mission a letter of intent was signed between Argentina and the Kingdom of the Netherlands to formalize the intentions to exchange knowledge and work together on facing the challenges related to water management and to reduce the risk of water related disasters.
Figure 3 Signing ceremony of the Letter of Intent between Argentina and the Kingdom of the Netherlands
1.2 Approach for the mission / objectives
The objective of this mission was focused on certain areas that need to be developed to assure a sustainable use of the water resources in the Salado Basin and to reduce the flood risks in this area. The master plan mainly focuses on flood risk management. During this mission various discussions took place to define opportunities to develop a more integrated vision on management of the river basin, also covering issues related to water scarcity, water quality and environmental quality. To get a broader understanding of the challenges in Argentina discussions have been held with representatives of other provinces (COHIFE) and the mission team visited other river basins as well (Rio Lujan, Rio Reconquista).
To be able to provide our counterparts with advice and to share knowledge on how to manage water systems, several field visits, workshops and bilateral meetings where organized. The mission started on Tuesday with a briefing at the EKN together with officials from the Subsecretario de Recursos Hidricos followed by a startup session at the Ministry of Finance (Ministerio de Hacienda) where we met Mr. Bereciartua (Subsec. Recursos Hídricos de la Nación) and where we discussed the program and the objectives of the mission.
Figure 4 Maintenance of the Río Lujan, clearing of the Acacia Negra
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In the afternoon, we visited various locations in the basin of the Rio Lujan, mainly around Lujan.
In the city of Lujan, we had a fruitful discussion with a number of Mayors and other stakeholders involved in the initiation of the Comite de Cuenca, an initiative that had started 9 months earlier.
Figure 5 Stakeholder session in the Rio Lujan Basin
On Wednesday, we had a whole day workshop with AdA on water governance and various bilateral meetings took place for the different experts to make an inventory of the issues and challenges at hand. Later that afternoon the letter of intent between the Republic of Argentina and the Kingdom of the Netherlands was signed. The afternoon was continued with representatives of other provinces (Cordoba, Santa Fe, Pampa) at the reunion of COHIFE to discuss their challenges in relation to water management.
On Thursday, we visited a number of locations in the basin of the Rio Salado and had the opportunity to see by helicopter (figure 6) the differences between a section that was almost finished and section IV that has to start as soon as possible.
The Friday was fully planned with bilateral meetings and a meeting with the press at the end of the afternoon. On Friday night, a dinner was convened with officials from the World Bank to continue the discussion on what is needed to improve the sustainability and effect of the works that are planned in the fourth section of the Rio Salado. Saturday was used to do some additional research, meet with stakeholders that had not been met before and prepare the reporting of the mission.
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Figure 6 Section III and section IV of the Rio Salado
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2 WATER CHALLENGES IN ARGENTINA
2.1 Floods in Argentina
A search on Google with the terms flooding and Argentina results in an enormous number of hits with information of floods in the last few years indicating the challenges the country faces in reducing this risk through sustainable flood risk management.
The rains in April 2016 have caused many floodings all around the country.
“The torrential rains of April 2015 caused several rivers to overflow, chiefly the Uruguay, Paraná and tributaries, and the flooding of several urban and agricultural areas in the provinces of Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Formosa, Santa Fe, Cordoba and Chaco, impacting many regions and people that had already been affected by the floods that occurred between December 2015 and January 2016.
… According to the Pan American Health Organization, “as of April 26, 2016, in the provinces of Figure 7 Cumulated Rain [mm] from 1 April 2016 until 20 April 2016. Image: Corrientes, Entre Rios, Santa Fe, Servicio Nacional de Meteorológia, Argentina (http://floodlist.com/tag/argentina) Chaco, and Formosa, a total of 11,826 people has been evacuated, 255 people have been evacuated, 744 people are isolated, and 44,882 people have been affected”.” (source: http://floodlist.com/america/argentina-thousands-displaced-cordoba-chaco-entre-rios- corrientes-santa-fe).
The site http://floodlist.com/tag/argentina provides many articles related to the flooding in the country, not exclusively in 2016.
According to http://www.preventionweb.net/ countries/arg/data/ 52% of all economic loss caused by disasters between 1990 and 2014, was caused by floods while 21.6 % was caused by droughts. Furthermore, the annual average losses during this period caused by flooding was reported to be almost 885 million US $.
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Figure 8 Combined economic losses between 1990 and 2015 in percentages. Source: http://www.preventionweb.net/countries/arg/data/
In the province of Buenos Aires a large part of the region was flooded causing enormous economic damage. Given the fact that many of those flooded areas have similarities in characteristics with the flat areas in the Netherlands, there is enormous potential for the exchange of knowledge and learning on how to cope with these challenges, not only related to flooding and droughts but also related to water quality issues. The Rio Salado basin covers a large part of the province of Buenos Aires and is of significant importance to the socio-economic development of the province and the country.
This year the Republic of Argentina published a National Water Plan. The National Water Plan envisions to establish strong collaboration between the national and provincial governments together with the private sector and the society. This should lead to a situation where all people have access to drinking water and 75% of the population is connected to a sewerage system. The risks of extreme climate events have to be reduced and the total area under irrigation has to be increased by 15%. For this, multipurpose projects have to be developed, including water supply, irrigation, flood protection, recreation and tourism, industrial development and hydropower. These projects will lead to preservation of water resources, in terms of quality and quantity, demand management, innovation and public participation.
The water policy includes four cornerstones: Water and sanitation: expanding the provision of drinking water and sanitation services, including wastewater treatment. Adaptation to extreme climate events: to increase the levels of protection of the population, especially the most vulnerable against floods, droughts and other threats through infrastructure, warning systems, and contingency plans. Water for production: provide water for productive activities. Multi-purpose use and biomass: improve use and stimulate production of energy from
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biomass.
Figure 9 Corner stones of the National Water Plan. Source: Plan Nacional de Agua, 2016
In all four corner stones the preservation of water, capacity building, innovation and broad participation are key characteristics to be developed. In total an investment of more than 40 billion US dollars is foreseen in the period between 2016 and 2019.
Policy corner stone Budget 2016-2019 (Million US Dollar) Water and Sanitation 21.000 Adaptation to extreme climate events 10.000 Water for production 1.500 Multipurpose use and biomass 10.000 Source: https://prezi.com/l_q6vaylxvvg/plan-nacional-del-agua-de-argentina/
2.2 Challenges in the Rio Salado Basin
The Rio Salado is the largest river basin in the Province of Buenos Aires. The river is 640km long, it drains a total area of 170.000 sq. km (comparable with the total catchment area of the River Rhine), and runs through the richest agricultural lands in the region.
On the average, around 25-30 % of the total Argentinian meat and grain production comes from this region (source: Plan Maestro Integral Cuenca del Río Salado). Every flood (which are very recurrent) causes immense economic damage, and has a great social and political impact. In 2015 around 4.1 million ha, or close to 25% of the land was flooded, some for almost 6-9 months.
According to the newspaper ‘La Nacion’ this has led to an economic damage of over 1 billion Argentinian pesos (around 100 million euros) only considering the wheat and meat production.
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Figure 10 Catchment of the Rio Salado (source: Water Master Plan Rio Salado)
The Federal Government as well as the Provincial government has asked for assistance of the Netherlands government in the revision of the existing Rio Salado Hydraulic Plan and advice on how to achieve an integrated management of the river basin. The Hydraulic Plan was elaborated by the Province of Buenos Aires at the beginning of the year 2000.
The plan comprises 5 phases (figure 12 and 13). The first two phases have been implemented, the third phase is to be finalized soon and it is foreseen that the implementation of the fourth phase will start shortly. The first three phases comprised the downstream area of the basin before the river discharges in the delta of the Río Plata.
The interventions in these sections over a total length of 223 km basically covers the dredging of the river to develop a broader and deeper river with an increased discharge capacity, and a number of small and medium infrastructure works along the river and across the river. In some cases, natural Figure 11 Flooded area august 2015, source: La Nacion) lagoons have been used as areas
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to retain water in order to control sudden peak discharges. The work carried out in the first three phases was done by local firms. The map below indicates the different tranches.
Figure 12 details of the different phases included in the Master Plan
The map in figure 13 indicates sections IV and V (Tramo IV and V) that are still to be implemented. The region is extremely flat. The average gradient over the basin is 0.025%. This means that flow velocity is low and that with high rainfall intensities a large area is needed to retain the water before it can be drained towards the Rio de la Plata. Neighboring basins have similar challenges. For this reason, some interconnections have been constructed between the neighboring catchments and the Río Salado such that these catchments also partially drain via the Río Salado. Furthermore, the different catchments are interconnected through groundwater flows.
In many areas, the
Figure 13 Map Rio Salado indicating the five sections groundwater level is high. This information is
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obtained through communication with stakeholders (local producers and government officials). Some information is available through the website of the ‘Red de monitoreo de las Aguas y del Territorio’ (http://red-mate.com.ar/mapa/). With long duration of rainfall, the groundwater level rises. If the water can not be drained this results in water logging. Hence, floods are not only caused by rivers overflowing their borders, but also because of the fact that the absorption capacity has been used to its full content. It can take several months before the water level has gone down sufficiently for all the water to infiltrate. The only way to drain the water is to ensure that there is sufficient local retention or drainage capacity and that discharges are not obstructed by insufficient drainage downstream.
Figure 14 Density of drainage system in the Rio Salado asin and in the Polders of the Netherlands
As the region suffers from the effects of the ENSO phenomenon (El Niño / la Niña) as well as from longer cyclic climate variations (source: Building Safer Cities: The Future of Disaster Risk, Chapter 10, Flooding in the Pampean Region of Argentina: The Salado Basin, Hilda Herzer), the wetter years are interchanged with dryer years. This means that focus on drainage only increases the risks of droughts during the years with rainfall deficits. Interventions also have to take in to account increasing the ability to anticipate on dry periods and retain as much water as possible in the area.
The first three phases of the Master Plan only have taken into consideration the reduction of flood risks and do not allow for retention of water in anticipation of dryer spells. The main challenges at present are: The upstream part of the basin is not drained sufficiently because phases 4 and 5 have not been carried out; The neighboring river basins that are planned to be drained via the Rio Salado cannot be connected yet; Many of the water works constructed during the first three phases have not been appropriately maintained and, hence, are not fully operational (or not at all); The interventions have been planned with a model that has been developed in the nineties of the last century. An update of the model has been carried out by the Instituto Nacional de Agua (INA). The models indicate that the planned interventions will have the foreseen effects but that optimization is possible. When optimizing, new insights can be included in relation to climate change, up- and downstream effects and effects of other interventions to come to an integrated system; The basin lacks an appropriate governance agreement. The municipalities are responsible for maintenance, but these responsibilities are not clearly defined and funding is not assured. The ‘Comite de Cuenca’ (committee of Mayors) does not function as
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perceived and an analysis is needed to find a better way to manage the basin in an integrated manner. Because of the deficient drainage capacity floods along this river are increasingly recurrent. This affects a growing part of the local populations and decreases the value of the agricultural land. Furthermore, it affects the mobility in the region. Prolonged disruption of the mobility because of water logging also hampers accessibility of markets where agricultural products have to be sold. Each flood event, disrupts the whole value chain, causing economic and financial loss to farmers. Due to low resiliency, land that could be used for various agricultural uses, is not optimally used. Value of land per ha could be five times as much if the flood risk can be reduced significantly.
In June 2016, an agreement was reached between the National Government and the Province to allocate 1800 Million Pesos (just under 110 Million Euro) for the execution of works in section IV of the Rio Salado. Minister of Interior, Rogelio Frigerio, and the Governor of the Province, María Eugenia Vidal, signed an agreement to carry out the project “appropriate, widening, and deepening of the river bed of the Salado” of section IV, which forms part of the National Water Plan that was announced by President Mauricio Figure 15 Signing ceremony Section IV Macri.
2.3 Integrated Planning of the Rio Salado basin
2.3.1 Water system related needs (social, economic, environmental) of stakeholders
The main socio-economic sectors in the Rio Salado basin are agriculture and cattle breeding. About 30% of the total production of grain and meat originates from this watershed. Industrial activities are mainly related to processing product from the agricultural sector and from cattle breeding. The objectives of these sectors are very important in the management of the river basin and the required interventions to facilitate the development these sectors
During the mission, there was no opportunity to discuss environmental aspects with NGO’s nor with the Ministry of Environment. A search on internet leads to little information on important environmental sites in the Rio Salado. Most of the region has already been affected by changes in land use. The wetland along the Bahía de Samborombon is of national importance and registered under the RAMSAR Convention. The Rio Salado has its mouth in the bay of Samborombon and changes in quality and discharge influence the environmental development of this region.
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When flying over sections III and IV of the Rio Salado a clear difference can be seen between these sections in relation to the environmental values. These values should be considered when planning and carrying out the interventions to reduce the flood risk, to assure that as many environmental values as possible are being preserved and restored.
Figure 16 Aerial overview on section III and section IV of the Rio Salado
2.3.2 Facilitating water system related needs through IWRM
IWRM provides a continuous availability of water, decreases the risk of flooding and strives for a quality of the resource that facilitates their development. There is very little information available on water quality in the region. There is an existing awareness of the effect agriculture and especially the use of agrochemicals has on the water quality but during the mission no specifics have been provided.
During meetings with stakeholders, other types of socio economic development and land use have been discussed. There is a very strong tendency to continue with traditional land use being extensive agriculture (grains, soya, etc.) and extensive cattle breeding. However, there also is an understanding that a reduction of the risk of floods could provide new opportunities for more intensive use of the land. In the area visited a number of feeding places Figure 17 feeding places for cattle (figure 17) were seen from the air indicating that there is interest in implementation of more intensive technologies. The ‘recintos’ or the locations along the river where the ground level has been heightened with the dredged material from the river have a very limited flood risk. Therefore, they are very well suited to locate these feeding places. INTA participated in the fieldtrip and the possibility to include these opportunities in their training programs for the agricultural sector were received well. The manure of the cattle being fed in these locations can also be used to enrich the organic content of the ‘recintos’ and make them more suited for agriculture.
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Aside from agriculture, cattle breeding and agro industrial activities, there was only little interest indicated in developing sectors that have direct interaction with the water systems. Ideas related to commercial cultivation of fish was not perceived as a realistic option and only few locations use the water system for recreation activities. However, this does not mean that in the future with a more controlled fluvial regime these activities will never develop.
2.3.3 Opportunities for more effective and efficient use of water resources
There is only very little attention for effective and efficient use of water resources as the land use is very extensive. This could be the result of the fact that flooding is now much more pressing and full attention is given to interventions to reduce the flood risk.
In some areas farmers use the land for more intensive cultivation. In these areas, INTA is active to train farmers in more efficient and effective water use. There is a shared concern related to water shortages / droughts and questions are asked by the stakeholders whether the interventions in the basin sufficiently take into consideration the possibility to retain water where possible. Opportunities are limited as the area is very flat and there are only few locations suitable to create reservoirs. For more intensive types of agriculture and cattle farming it would be feasible to create local reservoirs and to start initiatives related to rain farming. However, for the more extensive types of land use these technologies do not seem to provide sufficient buffer capacity to meet the water demand during prolonged periods without precipitation. It was indicated that around urban centers more intensive agriculture (cash crops) takes place. These are the locations where water retention has priority. On the other hand, it seems logical to initiate intensive agriculture where there are possibilities for retention of water.
During the mission, INTA indicated that they provide information related to climate events and they inform farmers on the possibilities to anticipate these climate events (http://inta.gob.ar/). INTA has several websites with climate related information as well as information on geographic information and groundwater levels.
Instituto de Clima y Agua: http://climayagua.inta.gob.ar/ Radares: http://radar.inta.gov.ar/v3/ Información satelital: http://sepa.inta.gob.ar Información meteorológica y climática: http://siga2.inta.gob.ar/ Sistema de Información Geográfica de Anegamientos: http://geointa.inta.gov.ar/visor/ Red de Freatímetros: http://red-mate.com.ar/
In the short term, communication between the involved stakeholders should be intensified. This will lead to a better use of available information as well as more efficient use of the available resources to manage the watershed.
2.3.4 Interventions towards sustainable water resource and flood risk management
Many interventions are planned related to structural measures to reduce flood risks. These interventions are described in the provincial water plan and in the existing plans for several river basins. However, these plans tend to have a sectoral approach and do not integrate sufficiently the sectors that depend on water as a resource to develop. During the field trip to the Rio Lujan
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(figure 18) various structural works were visited, most implemented to reduce the flood risk. Some of these interventions where not optimally located within the spatial planning of the areas and in some cases opportunities were missed to combine the interventions with other projects that were carried out in the same area but as part of other sectoral programs. Timely interaction between sectors in the planning phases would provide new opportunities for more efficient and effective allocation of the available resources. The ‘Comites de Cuenca’ could play an important role in the integration of the objectives, plans and projects from a water centric point of view.
For the Rio Salado, the structural interventions are planned based on a hydraulic model that was developed in 1999 and updated by the INA some 7 years ago. With all new available technologies, it should be considered to start a new update of the model as this provides an extremely important basis for the dimensions of the new structural works that are being carried out. The risk of under- or overinvestments can be reduced significantly with an improved hydraulic model. The balance between costs and benefits of an updated hydraulic model will most probably be positive as the costs of improving a model do not relate to the costs of large scale structural interventions. To be able to improve models it is also important to gather more field information and to assure that there is a monitoring network in place to calibrate the hydraulic models.
Figure 18 Basins of the Rio Lujan, Rio Reconquista and Matanza/Riachuelo
A crucial aspect for sustainable management is the organizational structure to be institutionalized. This aspect is discussed in more detail in the next chapter. This chapter does not only cover the
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institutional setting but also provides information and advice on how to assure that the required information is available for sound decision-making and that stakeholders are involved.
To improve integration, it is important to assure that national, provincial and watershed plans are being developed using the same objectives with regards to facilitating economic, social and environmental developments. This streamlining will improve the understanding of the necessity to manage the water system in an integrated manner. It will also facilitate the involvement of all stakeholders in an early stage when planning on a strategic as well as an operational level.
2.3.5 Integration of plans
When discussing and analyzing the National Water Plan, the Provincial Water Plan of 2009 and the River Basin Management Plan for the Rio Salado, it is clear that one of the main objectives of the responsible authorities is to manage the water resources in an integrated manner taking into account the availability of the resources as well as the demand of the socio-economic sectors as well as the required ecological flows. However, the implementation of this objective to manage in a. integrated manner should be strengthened.
The plans cover the three layers of the water governance concept, but emphasis is given to the implementation of structural works. At different levels studies are being carried out to better understand the water systems in Argentina and how the behavior of the water system influences the economic, social and environmental systems. Capacity building is covered by the national water plan as crucial for sustainable development and preservation of the water resources. The next step is to define how available funds are being used to finance initiatives that improve the understanding of the water system and its interaction with the economic, social and environmental systems. Furthermore, people need to be trained to be able to use the available information for decision making and for the implementation, operation and maintenance of the water systems. In chapter 4 some recommendations are given on how to improve the availability of information for the day to day management of the Rio Salado as well as how to gather the information necessary to create the ability to warn stakeholders in advance of extreme events related to water quantity (floods / droughts) as well as quality.
This is also the case when assessing the organizational layer and the relational layer. Creating and strengthening of the ‘Comites de Cuenca’ or watershed committees is seen as an important step to improve the capacity to manage the water system. In several watersheds, these committees are assembled with different levels of success. For the Rio Salado, the challenges are to find the proper type of organization of these committees to assure that they will have the optimum effectiveness and efficiency in managing the watershed together with the Subsecretario de Recursos Hidricos. This aspect has received specific attention during the mission and will be covered in chapter 3.
The need has been expressed to strengthen the relation between the water plans at the different levels and to assure that the integrated objectives are being translated to the provincial and regional levels. The provincial water plan needs to be updated and should emphasize the requirements on organizational as well as on the institutional and the content level.
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When zooming in on the watershed plans of the Rio Salado (mainly extensive agricultural use) and the Rio Lujan (very strongly urbanized), projects to be initiated have an increasing tendency towards structural interventions. Non- structural interventions are mentioned but not further detailed while at this level it becomes even more pressing to integrate the interventions in other plans that have spatial consequences. Figure 19 interaction between economic sectors and the water system Economic development, infrastructure, housing, tourism, and agriculture are only some of the sectors that have very strong connections with the water system (figure 19). They depend on the availability (quality/quantity) of the resource and are affected strongly by the flood risks in the areas where these developments take place.
Therefore, it is crucial that when developing a water plan, the interaction with these sectors takes place at the earliest possible moment. This is to assure that consequences of developments in these sectors are mitigated or compensated in a proficient manner. From a different perspective, interventions in the water system can have effects on many different sectors and it should be assured that these effects are minimized where possible or assure that sectors have sufficient lead time to anticipate these developments.
The actual water plan for the Rio Salado is a technical plan and mainly describes all the technical or structural interventions that are and still have to be implemented. When looking at the three main objectives of the plan: - Reduce flood risks (magnitude and duration) and drought risks; - Improve the conditions for socio-economic development in the basin, taking into consideration the needs of the agricultural and livestock production; - Protect and develop the environmental values of the basin; it can be indicated that detailing and implementation of the plan has mainly focused on the reduction of flood risks through structural interventions.
When continuing with fourth phase, the Subsecretario wants to adopt a more integrated approach. To be able to adopt an integrated approach a series of challenges have to be dealt with. It is important to document objectives and intentions on the Provincial level and the objectives on the watershed level in updated water management plans. These can be related to technical aspects, to institutional aspects and to relational aspects and are described as such below. In Annex D, a first plan is included to develop such a provincial plan. These roadmaps should also be developed for one or two basin plans. When developing a Provincial plan at the same time as one or two basin-plans the interaction between the two processes will have an added value in the streamlining of the plans at different levels. In choosing the basins it is
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recommendable to choose different types of basins. With a small urbanized basin (Rio Lujan) and a large basin with mainly extensive land use (Rio Salado) many different characteristics will be covered.
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3 WATER GOVERNANCE
3.1 Introduction
Following the recommendations of the first DRR mission to Argentina this year, the water authorities of Buenos Aires Province requested the Dutch Government the DRR follow-up mission to focus on four issues. One of them emphasizes the need to improve the water governance of the Salado River Basin.
Mrs. Marcela Laguzzi (Dutch Water Authorities / Waterschap Brabantse Delta) participated in the follow up mission. She was responsible for the water governance aspects of the mission. She assisted the Buenos Aires Province Water Authority (AdA -Autoridad del Agua) on capacity building issues. This authority is responsible for the creation and performance of the river basin committees in the province.
During the mission a two-day workshop was held with the Autoridad de Agua of the Subsecretario de Recursos Hídricos. A visit to the middle Salado River Basin (section III under construction and sector IV planned and awaiting financing) provided the opportunity to discuss water governance with Mayors and producers. The DRR-Team also visited the Lujan River Basin in order to get a better understanding of the current cooperation between municipalities and the province and the river basin governance model currently used for urban basins.
Activity / product 1: Workshop: two-day workshop for AdA and a few participants from Secretaria de Recursos Hidricos de la Nacion and other provincial departments. The objective of this workshop was a) to evaluate the actual water governance of the Salado River Basin, b) to share knowledge and best practices about water governance in The Netherlands and other parts of the world, c) to identify aspects to be improved and determine a course of action to change together with the current responsible authorities. DRR colleagues Klaas de Groot and Otto de Keizer gave a presentation on best-practices related to cooperation, participation, integrality, monitoring and public information. DRR- Team member Irene Pohl discussed innovative financing solutions. Activity / product 2: Dialogue on Site: Through dialogue with national, provincial and local authorities on site, bottlenecks of the current water governance situation were clarified. She identified and checked in the field new models and instruments for effective water governance in the Salado basin. Activity/ product 3: List of Recommendations & Draft Road Map: A gross list of recommendations and a first draft of a Roadmap for improvement of the governance of the Salado River Basin.
The results of these activities are summarized below.
3.2 Water Governance Workshop
The workshop took place on October 12 and14 2016. During the workshop The OECD governance model and the Water Governance Centre 3-level model were used as framework to analyze the current situation, to sketch the desired situation based on international best practices, and to determine the gap between both situations (diagnostic).
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Figure 20 Three levels of Water governance
The diagnostic focused on the following governance aspects: 1. Participation and cooperation with public and private parties. 2. Funding and financing (structural funding, financing and debt repayment) 3. Clear integrated legal framework / roles and responsibilities (objectives, policy, accountability, control) 4. Integrated water resources management 5. Adequate administrative scale (boundaries /size/ scope) 6. A professional and stable administrative organization 7. Communication and the need of good open information.
The participants evaluated the current situation of these aspects answering three questions: What works well? What is missing? What needs to be improved?
The participants were proud of the energy and ambition they have to change and improve water management. They are also proud of how hydraulic works are planned and executed. They are good at making coalitions and finding financial means for water projects. They have started improving their internal processes and the cooperation with other provincial departments.
The participants also identified many issues that need to be improved such as: a) the local water governance; b) guaranteeing structural funding for regular operations and maintenance; c) clear but simple regulations; d) process improvement related to issuing water permits and control of them; e) improve asset management and maintenance; f) establish a governance system where
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local stakeholders can have influence in decision-making at certain extend, have a well framed role on water management of the secondary channel system and pay/contribute for these tasks; g) improve planning and control and (internal) compliance; g) work on integrated approach of water issues with other (public) sectors (the current approach is sectoral). The Dutch water management model seems suitable to approach many of these issues, specially b) and f)..
After sharing international best-practices, the participants discussed how these practices should be included in a vision on how to organize the governance of the Salado Basin. The participants shared their ideas about possible governance models (install authorities at sub-basin or not, partial delegation of responsibilities from AdA to local authorities, etc.). A water governance vision is needed that covers all these aspects to assure that goals are clear and shared and stakeholders agree with what is needed to improve the governance of the Salado Basin. Feasible ideas identified during the sessions and supported by all participants have been included in the recommendations in section 3.3.
Modelo 3 niveles / OECD / Building Blocks WGC
Figure 21 Focus areas during the mission
On October 13 and in the morning of the 14th, Mrs. Laguzzi, together with other DRR members, interviewed stakeholders and/or beneficiaries of a good water resources management in the Salado Basin (five mayors of municipalities affected by flooding of the Salado in the middle course, representative of the producers’ association CARBAP, two producers, one land administrator, two authorities of the National Ministry of Agriculture).
Some of the ideas originated during the workshop were shared with the consulted persons in order to check whether these actors share the ambition of the actual provincial water authority.
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The consulted persons, from their perspective, provided interesting contributions to the vision and on how to achieve it. In general, we can conclude that there is a common ground to work on sustainable water resources management. The workshop ended with a list of recommendations based on the diagnostic, the vision and the information collected during the interviews.
All the material used during the workshop and accompanying literature were handed over to the participants. This chapter includes the list of recommendations and a sketch of a roadmap on how to start to improve the governance in the Salado basin.
Finally, on request of the provincial authorities and as final product after the mission, Mrs. Laguzzi elaborated a draft of a Roadmap on how the provincial water authorities can be supported / strengthened while making the necessary water governance changes in the Salado Basin (Annex E).
3.3 Recommendations to improve water governance in the Salado Basin
Recommendations about participation and cooperation Identify common objectives with other sectors and actors involved in the socio-economic and environmental development of the region. Elaborate a vision on water as development element. Make an integrated plan for the whole province in general lines (water quantity, quality, ecology, economy, infrastructure, etc.). Detail the plan per basin. Manage the environment and the water in an integrated manner and in cooperation with the actors involved (stakeholders). In particular, for the Salado, it is clear that good agriculture and water management are interdependent. Involve the stakeholder in the integrated planning process and the design of specific works and in the maintenance and operation of these works and the natural system. Articulate the policies and actions with authorities responsible for other sectors “from the very beginning”. Create for instance, multidisciplinary teams (for a short period or permanently) at political and operational level. Promote the binding participation between organizations for general water management aspects. Binding participation means that all stakeholders accept their responsibilities and have the means to comply. For this it is needed to involve individual stakeholders during all phases of a project and to allow them to participate in the elaboration of ideas, in making choices and in the implementation. Stakeholders can also play a role in the operation and maintenance as well as in the monitoring. It is crucial that these tasks have been clearly assigned. Involve the interested parties/ stakeholders in the governance of the basin and control of the executing organism. Improve the trust and confidence of the stakeholders and the public in the public government by taking decisions jointly, by being transparent and by fulfilling the agreements. Producers have indicated that they are willing to pay for hydraulic works, maintenance and operation ‘as long as the water works are effective’. Also, here it is necessary to restore confidence. A good example of collaboration is the operation of the “consorcios canaleros”1.
1 “Consorcios Canaleros” are private consortia of land owners adjacent to secondary channels which take care of the construction and maintenance of secondary water drainage works (mainly channels) after the design and exploitation contract has been approved by the Water Authority.
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These consortia have shown that, with a minimal investment, it is possible to prevent millions of pesos on losses by flooding or drought; (source: P. Giraudo). Educate the next generations on how to use and protect the water resources and the environment in general. This is a major issue in the Province of Buenos Aires, where rivers and water courses are often used as “dumping grounds for waste”.
Recommendations on administrative scale Create governance committees congruently with the boundaries of the watersheds (avoid political boundaries). If needed, create interprovincial committees. Water is a responsibility of the Provinces. Create a provincial organization that within the legal framework allows for integrated decisions. Suggestion: organize strategic tasks at provincial level (general policy and legal framework, integrated plan, fees and/or tax collection, compliance & control, inspection, monitoring, data registers, etc.) and organize other tasks at a basin level, closer to the users/beneficiaries (such as operation and maintenance, detail design, execution and inspection new works, “customer” contact and servicing, permits, communication, cooperation and participation, etc.). The mayors of the Salado municipalities proposed a model of “supported autonomy”, where many tasks are delegated to local authorities/entities, while AdA supports and controls the management of these local entities. This model needs additional detailing as it will be crucial that with the delegation of responsibilities also the instruments become available for the responsible authority. The province supports the concept of delegation of responsibilities but further discussion is needed on how to operationalize this for the Río Salado and other basins.
Recommendations on integrality At this moment, most of the plans for the Salado focus on handling water excess. Producers have emphasized there is a need for managing water excess as well as water shortage. Adjust land use to the water availability in the basin / sub-basin. Work together with municipalities, environmental authorities, land use authorities and producers on these issues. Make a water risk plan. Use the three levels of safety for floods as well as for droughts (prevention, spatial planning, disaster management) to decide what to prevent, what to live with and how to be prepared for extreme situations. Emphasize a multipurpose approach towards water issues. The mayors want to “become friends again” with the river. Instead of seeing it only as a threat, see it as an ingredient of a business model for production, entrepreneurship and tourism.
Recommendations on fund collection and financing The provincial cadastral register is up-to-date and digitally available, and needs to actively used for the purpose of decision-making. Build / actualize the register of water courses, hydraulic works, reserved areas for water management issues, water wells, permits, etc. Collect the “cannon” (water fee currently charged for residential and industrial ground water extractions and industrial emissions). Reserve yearly recurring provincial budget for water management only and structurally (do not use these funds for other objectives!!!) Use the income from contributions from beneficiaries (one-off or periodical) to finance work and maintenance. Investigate the use of tax incentives to promote sustainable use of land and water.
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Show data that prove the impact of the water works and other water management tasks. If the public in general and the affected stakeholders are informed better, confidence will increase that spending of public money is efficient and effective in the sense that it facilitates economic, social and ecological development.
Recommendations for the administrative organization
Responsabilidades y tareas en la gestion del agua / gestion de cuencas hidricas
Politica y legislacion
Guiar el uso del agua: Permisos, tasas/ impuestos Agricultura, agua potable, Inspeccion y penalizacion
energia hidroelectrica, etc. Participacion/ gestion de o
t interesados
E n
v e
a i Control del Agua Operacion
l
u m Cantidad, calidad Monitoreo
a a Gestion de la informacion
c e
i n Infraestructura del Agua o a Mantenimiento
n l embalses, terraplenes, Construccion P compuertas, bombas, orillas, lecho, etc.
Harmonizacon con politicas de otros sectores
Figure 22 Responsibilities and tasks
Define the objectives and tasks in an integrated manner. This may have repercussions on the organization and team capacity. Rethink what kind of organizational support you need to achieve the water objectives. Redesign the organization that will be most effective and efficient in achieving the water objectives. Decide on what can be done by the public sector, public/private sector and what you want to delegate/ contract to private parties. Improve transparency of regulations and enforce compliance. Define which areas in the catchment must be protected, which areas can be used and under which circumstances / conditions. Simplify the regulations in order to “allow more” where possible (less stringent regulations that facilitate customized solutions and lead to a reduced need for permits) and be stricter where necessary. Determine who is responsible for which territory/ water course and what are the responsibilities attached to it? Determine which penalties/ fines apply for offenders of these regulations/ responsibilities. In case responsibilities are mandated to different organizations/ departments, work together (ask feedback from each other) before issuing permits; control on site, if possible together to be more efficient.
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Allow for online public consultation of regulations to be applied and improve the accessibility of the maps using simple/ popular terminology (simplify legal terms and provide examples).
Figure 23 Example: map showes watercourses and dikes per category. Responsibilities and rights are wel defined for each (source: Water Authority Brabantse Delta, The Netherlands).
Expedite permits (for instance: permit ready between 8 weeks, if not automatically authorized!). Simplify the process, enhance the permit request and follow up online. Due to the large extension of the basin, use economic / easy and quick techniques to detect infringements (satellite images, drones, etc.). Professionalize the management of the organization and put control mechanisms in place to assure transparency, compliance, effectiveness and efficiency in the use of public/ semi- public funds. Ensure that the organization evaluates periodically their work and effectiveness using the PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) circle, while planning, executing, monitoring and evaluating (water) policies and waterworks. If necessary, adjust/ redesign environmental/ water policy and plans based on the conclusions of the evaluations. Strengthen the (technical) teams in charge of the decision-making process related to operation, maintenance, project management. Invest on capacity building of personnel. Each project has to be accompanied by a plan how to guarantee (funding for) maintenance, operation and monitoring after finishing the (construction) works.
3.4 Draft roadmap to improve water governance at the Rio Salado Basin.
Recommendations about how to “start” 1 Define the structural funding and governance model. 2 Develop an integrated water resources plan for the basin taking into account land use, urban planning, ecological and socioeconomic aspects. 3 Define and strengthen the role of AdA before creating the river basin committees. Define clearly AdA’s roles and responsibilities (AdA assigns the committees, develops water policy and integrated water plans and controls the performance of the committees) and for the Direccion de Hidraulica / Obras e Infrastructura (in charge of project execution). If necessary redefine the current organization, without detracting the positive aspects of it, in order to operate in a more integrated manner in the near future.
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4 Decide whether you want to divide the Salado basin in sub-basins or not. If you divide it, AdA should be in charge of the integrated plan of the whole basin. However, we would recommend not to divide the basin; establish only one river basin committee and allow for strong presence and participation at sub-basin level. Due to efficiency matters, centralize back-office processes (for instance general policy, regulations, management cycle, monitoring, control, integrated planning, etc.) while a “front-office” carries out the tasks that need to be carried out close to the beneficiaries/ users and interested parties (such as: works, cooperation, operation and maintenance, complains, permits, control permits and infringements).
3.5 Draft roadmap “Support to strengthen Institutional setting”
As a result of the mission, the outcome of the workshop and the interviews has been used to prepare a first outline of a roadmap for the support that Ada should receive to set up water governance in a structural manner. This proposal includes four support options: Support using workshops Support using workshops and follow up during the transition period. Support though a long-term cooperation with a “sister” similar authority. Capacity building through education. The Road Map can be found in Annex E (Spanish).
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4 MONITORING AND EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS
4.1 Activities
Following the recommendations of the first DRR mission to Argentina this year, the water authorities of Buenos Aires Province have requested the Dutch Government the DRR follow-up mission to focus on four issues. One of them emphasizes the need to develop a monitoring and early warning system for the Salado River Basin.
Mr. Otto de Keizer (Deltares) participated in the follow up mission. He was responsible for the monitoring and early warning aspects of the mission. Though in principle this was focused on the Río Salado basin, the aspects were broadened towards other areas in Buenos Aires province and Argentina in general.
Mr. Otto de Keizer carried de following activities out from October 11 to 15, 2016 in Buenos Aires and municipalities within the middle Salado River Basin (on sector 3 under construction and sector 4 planned awaiting financing). The DRR mission also visited the Lujan River Basin in order to get a better understanding of the current cooperation between municipalities and the province and the river basin governance model currently used for urban basins. Visits to Luján and Salado basins Presentation during the governance workshop with ADA on flood early warning systems Meetings with COHIFE, federal sub-secretary of water resources, provincial undersecretary and water agency (ADA) and the national water institute (INA). Analysis of the catchment system, options for flood early warning systems and insights on design, technical and governance options. Develop recommendations for the introduction of an automatic operational system Provide advice on potential to scale up catchment-based approach to a more regional approach.
4.2 Main findings and key recommendations
This chapter summarizes the main findings, observations, and explains the key recommendations in relation to monitoring and early warning systems. These finding are based on a 4-day visit to the area and meetings with some of the main key stakeholders.
4.2.1 Monitoring and Early Warning: a priority on the provincial and national levels
The need for monitoring and early warning systems is broadly recognized on the different governmental levels. Indeed, the current availability of hydrological data and information is recognized as a main limiting factor for the management of river basins and hydrological risks in Argentina, and considered to be lagging behind. The existing operational procedures regarding ‘early’ warning consist of upstream acquaintances communicating by phone with downstream villages to indicate high water levels. These methods, while contributing to upstream-downstream interaction, are not of this time anymore. The current governments are very much interested in resolving these issues and a lot of interest exists from multilateral donors (mainly the main banks CAF, World Bank and IADB) to support this type of initiatives.
At national level, the Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos introduced the concept of ‘iluminar cuencas’ (or in English ‘illuminate basins’) as a main national priority; in other words, to know
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observe and expose the current situation of the river basins with improved monitoring systems. Indeed, this will be fundamental to guide investments in water resources management and assure that these investments are (cost) effective.
From the perspective of the Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos at provincial level, monitoring would be directed towards floods, drought and water quality; drinking water in the province is mainly managed by public company AySA.
Current initiatives from the province are mainly focused on improving monitoring and less so on the development of early warning systems, though the term ‘early warning system’ is often mentioned. As explained in the next section monitoring is only one of the features of a successful early warning system.
4.2.2 Flood early warning systems
The need for early warning systems is mainly identified in relation to flood risks, as these have caused the main problems during last years. As explained in the section below about the Salado basin however, drought risks do need to be taken into account as well mainly considering the large economic damage drought causes to the agricultural sector. However, the basic structure of flood and drought early warning is similar so the same concepts and recommendations can be applied to drought warning systems.
Figure 24 shows the different phases of a flood early warning system. The main objective of the system is to increase the lead time so enough time will be available to respond adequately in case of flood risks. The time needed to respond (e.g. to evacuate population and or give them time to move furniture to the second floor) plus the time needed for making decisions and providing a warning define the required lead time (tiempo de prevision). Often, to reach the necessary lead time, monitoring alone is insufficient and forecasting models need to be included to have more accurate information.
Figure 24 Different phases of flood early warning systems
A forecasting team monitors continuously the hydrological status of the rivers and basins. As is shown in Error! Reference source not found., a monitoring office (internal and/or external to the o rganization) provides data, hydrological models are run based on these data, and the resulting forecast is analyzed by the (technical) forecasting team. These are continuous activities and a daily or more frequent information bulletin may be provided. When a threat is detected, based on protocols pre-defined actions are taken and responsible decision makers are informed.
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Dependent on the river basis a different combination of models may be used; real-time meteorological and hydrological observations feed these models. Often a meteorological forecast and/or a nowcast from radar images is used in combination with a rain-fall run-off model. Also a hydrodynamic model may be included to calculate water levels and a reservoir model when reservoirs are present. And, as is the case in the Salado basin, when the influence of groundwater is important, also aquifer levels need to be monitored. All this data and information is integrated and analyzed by a hydrological forecaster, with the support of hydrological simulation models.
The hydrological forecaster is part of a forecasting team, and has the responsibility to notify the responsible decision maker when a critical situation is predicted. Which decision maker is responsible depends on the scale of the event but in general would be the mayor or the governor. The decision maker in turn takes the decision on what action (warning and response) will be taken in response to the predicted flood. Protocols support the forecaster, and later in the process the decision maker, on what is done and who takes decisions under different scenarios.
When developing early warning systems, it is fundamental to take into account the final objective, e.g. be able to warn inhabitants of village X on time for evacuation when a flood is expected. This defines the required lead time and consequently the monitoring and simulation models needed. For a schematization of the forecasting and warning process see figure 25.
Also, institutional capacities need to be in place both for the forecasting process, as for the warning and response phases. These are described in the next paragraph.
4.2.3 Institutional capacity
Although the province of Buenos Aires is more than 7 times larger than The Netherlands, and has a total population only marginally smaller, the existent hydrological and meteorological networks depend mainly on federal institutions that maintain a limited density of the hydro-meteorological network. These institutions are the National Meteorological Institute (SMN), with a national meteorological network and forecasting model, the National Technological Institute for Agriculture (INTA), which manages an agrometeorological network and provides weekly bulletins for the agricultural sector, and the Prefectura Naval Argentina (PNA) which has different locations where water levels are observed along the navigable rivers.
An important question is which institution should be responsible for hydro-meteorological monitoring at the provincial level (of Buenos Aires). The development of early warning systems for the rivers in the province will increase the number of meteorological and hydrological stations. After installation, these will need to be maintained and repaired when needed. Furthermore, it is probable that with certain regularity the network(s) will be updated. Currently these capacities do not exist on the provincial level.
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Obtain and interpret Monitoring office Run models data
Forecasting team
Analyze hydrological forecast (Daily) bulletin
Decision maker (mayor / governor) WARN
Emergency Services / Civil population
Figure 25 the forecasting and warning process
One option could be to establish a hydro-meteorological office on the provincial level that will be responsible for the maintenance, installation in some cases, and quality assurance of these hydro-meteorological networks. Another option might be to delegate these tasks to a federal institution like SMN or INTA. We do not recommend to manage the hydro-meteorological on a lower than provincial scale as this will cause inefficiencies due to the risk of fragmentation of the monitoring staff, instrumentation and quality standards maintained.
A similar question occurs in relation to the ‘forecasting and warning center’. The decision makers that decide on warning and response in principle are the mayors in each (sub) river basin. Also, the hydrological forecaster will need more local knowledge about the water system to interpret both observations and modelling results. This may be a reason to have separate hydrological teams for groups of river basins. However, hydrological forecasting and warning systems are complex systems and we recommend to start with a team at the provincial level to obtain sufficient critical mass of experts, and later on when sufficient knowledge and experience is gathered the team may be split up to manage groups of river basins in the province. Formal protocols need to guarantee an optimal and efficient communication between the forecasting
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team and the responsible decision maker(s). When an event affects multiple municipalities it needs to be clear if the governor is in charge or each of the mayors, and how is coordinated between the different decision makers. Responsibilities need to be clear; e.g. one does not want a mayor to take a decision individually that affects negatively downstream municipalities Fully automatic systems are not recommendable, except in some cases in (rapidly responding) completely urban environments or when a discharge or precipitation forecast has a direct effect on the operation of hydraulic infrastructure like weirs or pumps. In the end a team of forecasters will need to develop the discharge forecasts and communicate with responsabile decision makers (and possibly inform the population in general).
In summary, it is important to consider the need for a monitoring and a forecasting and warning unit within the province, though the monitoring could be delegated to a federal institution that already has built-up capacities. To develop a technical design of the hydrological monitoring and forecasting system(s) it is important to take into account this institutional setup next to the needs for warning by the stakeholders in the river basins.
4.2.4 Design of a flood early warning system
We would recommend designing a flood early warning system, including monitoring and hydrological forecasting, on the provincial level. The design should take into account both the institutional and technical aspects, and start from the current situation regarding available data, models and institutional capacities. It is important to take an open and modular approach so that it is easy to extend and/or improve the system in future; dependence on specific simulation models or data formats should be prevented. The design and implementation activities need to be focused on creating institutional and technical capacities within the province, and improve knowledge related to forecasting and early warning systems of a couple of Argentinian key universities and/or knowledge institutions.
4.3 Salado Basin
The Salado River, the main river in the Province of Buenos Aires and not to be confused with the Salado River in Northern Argentina that caused a flood disaster in 2003 in Santa Fe, was the main object of the mission. Though a large part of the basin is situated within the province of Buenos Aires, it originates close to Teodelina in the Province of Santa Fe.
Considering that only a very small part of the basin is situated outside the province of Buenos Aires and no interprovincial river basin authority exists, what was mentioned in the previous chapter also applies to the Río Salado basin. What however is important to consider is that most floods are slow and strongly influenced by groundwater levels. Also, droughts are very relevant considering the importance of the agricultural production within the Salado basin. A hydrological model (Mike She) has been calibrated by the Instituto Nacional de Agua (INA) which has been used as basis for the designs of the hydraulic river works of the Salado. This model may be adapted to include in the forecasting system, e.g. based on Delft-FEWS; alternatively, the information the model is based on can also be used to implement a non- commercial hydrological model. If the forecasting system will be used for droughts than the implementation of a groundwater model should be evaluated, e.g. based on ModFlow or iMod.
Observations are available from INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) and the national meteorological institute (SMN). Although are available station density seems fairly low for
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an area of 170.000 km2 of the river basin in the Province of Buenos Aires. Both INTA and MSN have meteorological stations in the basin (around 20 in total), though most of them do not provide data in real time. The amount of hydrological (river and groundwater) stations is unclear as the authors did not receive detailed information. Important is that forecasting and warning systems being developed do include the available data from other institutions so available resources are not wasted.
We recommend developing a pilot project that develops a forecasting system for the Salado River (and tributaries?), based on available data and models. Delft-FEWS which is used for many national forecasting systems is recommended because of its modular and flexible set-up. During an initial phase the needs forecasting and warning needs, need to be identified together with the key stakeholders. Based on the pilot hydrological forecasting system a detailed hydro- meteorological monitoring can be developed, and during the process of developing the pilot project the institutional set-up can be elaborated in detail.
Delft-FEWS
Delft-FEWS is an open data handling platform initially developed as a hydrological forecasting and warning system. It is used in many countries around the world including the US, Colombia, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands. Essentially it is a sophisticated collection of modules designed for building a hydrological forecasting system customized to the specific requirements of an individual organization. Because of its unique characteristics concerning data importing and processing and model connections, Delft-FEWS has also been applied in a wide range of different operational situations. Examples are water quality forecasting, reservoir management, operational sewer management optimization, and even peat fire prediction. The philosophy of the system is to provide an open shell for managing the data handling and forecasting process. Delft-FEWS incorporates a wide range of general data handling utilities, while providing an open interface to any external calculation model. The modular and highly configurable nature of Delft-FEWS allows it to be used effectively both in simple systems and in highly complex systems utilizing the full range of available models. Delft-FEWS can either be deployed in a stand-alone, manually driven environment, or in a fully automated distributed client-server environment. It supports over 175 import formats and connects easily to a large range of hydrologic, hydraulic, and groundwater models Delft-FEWS offers many options for the user to interact with the system. For a modern operational (forecasting) system this interaction is crucial. In water management, and other sectors, different types of models are being used to simulate real-world processes. Delft-FEWS is capable to connect to many of these models, and new connections can be made easily. For more information see http://www.delft-fews.com.
4.4 Conclusions and recommendations
Create institutional capacities for maintenance (and extension) of a hydro-meteorological network on the provincial level; Develop an operational forecasting and warning unit on the provincial level, which has a strong knowledge of the hydrology in the major river basins in the province. An early warning system needs to be focused on providing a response time that is sufficient to implement an adequate response by the stakeholders and potentially affected people and companies (e.g. evacuation or installing temporary flood protections);
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To achieve sufficient response time, it is often needed to develop hydrological simulation models and use upstream meteorological data; The design of the hydro-meteorological network needs to go hand in hand with the design of the forecasting and warning system; Be aware of monitoring activities that already take place by other institutions, and integrate these data in real-time in the forecasting and warning system Use an open and modular approach so future extensions and improvements can be easily done by the Province and Argentinian knowledge institutions / universities. To obtain a sustainable monitoring, forecasting and warning system an integrated approach (and design) is key, as well as developing both institutional and technical capacities in relation to forecasting and warning systems. Take advantage of developments of forecasting and warning systems to import innovation and strengthen technical and scientific capacities of Argentinian institutions, including knowledge institutions and universities.
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5 WATER QUALITY
5.1 Activities
Following the visit of the Mayor of Amsterdam to the city of Buenos Aires in September 2016 and meetings with the province of Buenos Aires, the province requested to include expertise on water quality and waste water treatment (including energy recovery) in the follow-up mission of the DRR-Team. An expert in waste water (Marina Gaton) of Waternet (water company of Amsterdam) joined the mission to analyze and provide recommendations on the actual situation.
The first goal of the mission was to analyze the actual water plan of the Salado River Basin. The team also visit the Lujan River Basin in order to compare and to get an impression of how the Province manages the flooding problem in different water basins. Even though water quality was not the main focus during the visit to the Lujan River Basin, aspects related to water quality and the challenges in improving the water quality were referred to in many occasions indicating the importance of this aspect to the people in managing the basin.
From October 11 to 15, 2016, the DDR team (and in particular Waternet) was involved in the following activities: Visit to the Luján basin – Luján is an important religious as well as touristic place in Argentina. In the town, the basilica of the Virgen of Luján is located, and year-round people are coming to visit the city and the basilica (Romerías). The municipality is also growing fast because of its vicinity to Buenos Aires. People have more opportunities to find a job in this region when compared to more rural areas further away from the city of Buenos Aires. The fast urbanization processes cause new pressures on the resources and pressure on the water system. Untreated waste waters as well as illegal disposal of solid waste is causing quick degradation of the quality and the flood risk in the basin. In Lujan, a meeting was organized with Mayors and other stakeholders located in the basin. There a strong wish was communicated to improve the water quality, in addition to earlier discussed ambitions of flood risk reduction and to integrate water aspects in other spatial developments Governance workshop with ADA Discussion with the Province and a possible contractor took place to assess the idea to build a biomass plant near the Lujan River Basin. The discharge capacity of the river is reduced significantly as a result of the invasive Acacia Negra. Maintenance leads to a high volume of biomass that can be used in different ways. One of these is the production of energy in a biomass plant. Meetings with COHIFE, federal sub-secretary of water resources, provincial undersecretary and water agency (ADA) and the national water institute (INA). Visit to the Salado Basin – this basin is an agricultural region with few villages, and a characteristically fauna (birds, most of all) and landscape. The water quality problem here is less acute than in the urban area of Luján, but there is also a lack of awareness about the use and ways to live with water and increase its added value. Meetings with different agencies and companies related with water quality: - AySA – Waste water company from the city of Buenos Aires. They will become responsible for all the municipalities within the province, which means that they have to solve the sanitation problem for approximately15 million people (in 2017). - CEAMSE – Solid waste company from Buenos Aires. They will become responsible for the solid waste disposal of all the municipalities in the Province. Together with AySA, they
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want to learn more about how to collect more waste, and to assess the existing challenges and potential solutions. - ACUMAR – Agency responsible for the water quality in the Matanzas River Basin, a strongly polluted urban basin in the city of Buenos Aires. Their challenge is enormous, and they don’t have all the tools to manage the problem. There are strong political forces that further complicate finding the proper solutions. - APRA – company from the city of Buenos Aires that is responsible for the water quality in the city. They give the discharge permissions and control the emission of waste water of industries and water treatment plants.
5.2 Main findings and key recommendations
This chapter summarizes the main findings, observations, and explains the key / first recommendations how to improve the water quality at the River basins in the Province. These findings can best be characterized as first ideas on how to face the challenges. The information was collected during a 4-day visit (not enough to develop a full implementation plan).
5.2.1 Sources of contamination
Basically, four sources of water pollution can be identified: Industries upstream of the basin Domestic wastewater Agricultural pollution Solid waste Some of the challenges and solutions of these four sources are discussed below.
Industries upstream the basin – The province tries to control the water discharges of the industries: there are norms for the quality of the emission of waste water, and if these are not complied with there are proportional fines. - Recommendation: only with fines or even closing down the industries will not solve the problem. This would even cause a new problem in relation to availability of jobs. The province needs to collaborate and advise the industries in how to comply and to reduce the contamination. This can be done in different ways: Choosing different process technologies With a separation of the different water streams and treating the polluted ones apart. Cleaning with air (not using water). Helping the industries with making an environmental plan Giving financial help to the industries to implement the plan. Increasing problem awareness, looking for common goals (living with water, not against)
Domestic wastewater – The waste water system is insufficient to collect and treat all the domestic waste water. There are insufficient waste water treatment plants, many treatment plants do not operate and in many locations the waste water is not collected. In Rio Lujan, AySA (the waste water company from Buenos Aires) now has the responsibility for sanitation services.
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- Recommendation: Water quality has to be included in the integral water plan of the basin. It is needed to develop a sanitation plan covering the basins. These plans should consider the following: sanitation system has to be robust and waterproof, it should not be affected by inundations. Looking for cheap/flexible/temporally/innovative solutions for the illegal settlements. Awareness campaigns. Looking for innovative systems, to get more from waste (energy, nutrients)
Agricultural pollution – Diffused contaminants from agriculture and cattle farming are also present in the water (Rio Salado) - Recommendation – install a water quality monitoring system to detect the changes in the water quality. Provide information / education on alternative products (pesticides/herbicides/etc.) that are less harmful to the water and if possible provide financial support to change the application of chemicals.
Solid waste – the disposal system of the solid waste is insufficient. The solid waste company from Buenos Aires (CEAMSE) will become responsible. With the continuous floods, most of the waste reaches the rivers and is transported downstream. - Recommendation – Prepare a solid waste plan, together with the sanitation plan, and look for shared solutions. Assure that there will be sufficient awareness raising and study possibilities to recycle waste or produce energy form solid waste
5.2.2 Quality control
Actually, the quality control in the basins is insufficient (if there is quality control, the information is also not always available nor used at the right place). Up to now, water quality is not sufficiently taken in to consideration in the integrated basin management plan.
- Recommendation – First, make a good recompilation of data and systems which are already used. Choose/design an adequate and simple monitoring plan. Responsibility and control about the water quality at one place. This could be at the level of the province. Make clear arrangements with all stakeholders, organize meetings to discuss responsibilities, to take actions and to evaluate the effectiveness of those actions. Share information! People have to be informed and become involved in the actions to be taken.
5.2.3 Institutional organisation
Many institutions are involved in the water governance structure related to water quality issues. Responsibilities are diffuse.
- Recommendation – Develop an organogram with all stakeholders, responsibilities, and the links between stakeholders and responsibilities. Define water quality as common goal
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Looking for water governance examples in other provinces, Establish a dedicated interinstitutional team. Responsibility and control about the water quality at one place (Province?). Make clear arrangements with all stakeholders, organize meetings to discuss responsibilities, to initiate activities and to evaluate the effect of the activities.
5.3 Conclusions
Most of the time people perceive water as a problem. With the ongoing floods this is not strange. The water quality has not improved this perception and there is no shared understanding of the fact that water has important added values and that there should be a common search for ways to start enjoying / living with the resource.
In the Rio Salado basin, the water quality problem is less visible than in the basin of the Rio Lujan. Nevertheless, for the people living near the river and the existing ecosystems it is important to assure that the water quality answers to the norms and regulations. Good water quality improves the living conditions and is needed for recreational use of the water system. Many municipalities try to develop tourism and recreation. There are numerous opportunities and there is broad acceptance that it is important to find ways to life with the water and use its added values instead of using it as a natural way to emit waste water and solid wastes. In the basin of the Rio Lujan basin water quality is becoming a serious challenge and has already reached a high position on the political agenda. This is also the case for many other urbanized areas. It is needed that people living in these areas learn that water quality is a shared responsibility. It is the responsibility of the province to develop and use the needed instruments to achieve and maintain a good water quality level. It is crucial to involve all the stakeholders in this process, a good and strong communication plan is the main key to get everybody onboard. This communication plan does not only cover informing the stakeholders but gives room for interaction and sharing.
There is a lot of capacity, capability and expertise within the different agencies ( ADA, AySA, CEAMSE, ACUMAR) but its seems that there is insufficient cooperation. There is a strong need for exchange of knowledge and experience through workshops, discussion platforms, etc. Also, experts from other stakeholders should be involved to assure that knowledge and expertise also can be used by the private sector and the municipalities.
Collaboration between Argentinian and Dutch companies/institutions (waterschappen) can provide added value for both parties: The Netherlands is known for their water governance system (which is growing and has improved over many centuries). Buenos Aires is challenged to solve the water governance for 15 million people. Innovative solutions for one site can be translated to other locations as there are many comparable challenges (energy recovery, sludge disposal…)
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6 ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
6.1 Activities
Irene Pohl focused on the economic and financial aspects during the mission. This included knowledge exchange during the workshops on governance and identifying with the stakeholders the main challenges and opportunities in funding and financing water resiliency projects. Discussions also focused on the importance of costs and benefits of the projects to reduce flood risks and strengthen sustainable water management. Irene also shared innovative funding and financing solutions from the Netherlands and abroad, with a focus on the long-term solutions, including (land) value capture mechanisms and PPPs. Furthermore, Irene participated in multiple group sessions, interviews and conversations with stakeholders, including the public sector on national, provincial, and municipal level, as well as with representatives and entrepreneurs from the agricultural sector and contractors. Some of the ideas presented and developed in the workshop were discussed with these stakeholders.
In the following paragraphs, the main findings with regard to economic and financial aspects of the mission are summarized and some recommendations are provided.
6.2 Economic assessment and socio-economic development opportunities
One crucial question during the workshop, field trips, group discussions and one-on-one meetings was the economic assessment of the developments in the Río Salado basin. This main question can be subdivided into a couple of sub-questions: What are the economic costs and benefits of the works that have already been implemented in sections I to III2 of the Rio Salado? What are the future costs and benefits of the works to be initiated in the next phases (sections IV and V) of the project? How can the economic value, especially the benefits, of both the completed works and the outstanding works be optimized? What are the economic development opportunities for the area? What is needed to realize and maximize these opportunities?
6.2.1 Current status of information on economic development opportunities
The first two questions have been addressed in various conversations during the mission. The DRR-Team concludes, that there is hardly any information available on economic impact and opportunities of the projects in the Río Salado basin. It appears that little is known about the actual impact of the completed works from earlier phases on the economic development of the area. In addition, no studies appear available on how the new, proposed works upstream will influence both the area in the proximity of the works upstream and the areas more downstream.
There is also little knowledge of and attention towards long term effects and costs. There is a need to understand maintenance requirements for the river basin, as some effects will only
2 The Water Master Plan of the Province of Buenos Aires was developed in 2000 and comprises five sections or phases. Three out of the five have been implemented, and it is foreseen that the fourth will start shortly.
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prevail in the long term if the main river and side canals are properly and regularly maintained (as explained in more detail later on).
6.2.2 Building upon previous experience
The DRR-Team believes that there is a great value in understanding the costs and benefits of the past and future works. First of all, the works were and will be funded with public money. In order to justify these large investments in the Río Salado basin, the overall benefits of the works should outweigh the costs.
Furthermore, evaluating the economic (and other) effects of the earlier works downstream can provide valuable information for the proposed works upstream (section IV and V). What benefits can be expected? What are the negative effects with regard to risk of water scarcity and the destruction of habitat? What are the lessons learned from the previous works for the planned works upstream – from an economic point of view but also from a legal, social or technical point of view? Tender documents for Phase 1 of section IV have already been published but other phases can still be improved with the information that will result from an economic cost / benefit analysis.
Currently, an economic study is being prepared by the National Institute for Water INA (Instituto Nacional del Agua) which will be part of the documents provided to the World Bank for approval of the loan for part of the works that have to be carried out in section IV. An interview has been carried out with the responsible person for the economic study. It can be concluded that this study is, so far, not including any insights or results from the realized projects in section I to III. The DRR-Team believes that there is a lot to learn and retrieve from the earlier implementations, both with regard to data (on economic impact) as well as with regard to ‘lessons learned’. What has worked well? What has proven not to have the envisioned effect? And what are conclusions on ‘unused potential’?
To summarize, concluding from interviews, the economic study could benefit from an evaluation of the already completed works and from a wider view on potential benefits the project could generate.
6.2.3 Economic assessment and project funding
Communicating openly about the economic value and the added benefits of the project supports transparency in public spending. This transparency is positive in general but also specifically for the situation in the Río Salado, as major investments are yet to come. A good understanding of the economic effects can generate additional support and justification for the needed future public funding.
Not only does a comprehensive economic assessment inform public decision making and spending, it can also provide valuable information for potential private funding. Understanding where benefits are occurring and who is benefitting the most can improve insight into the potential of applying funding instruments, such as value capturing, contributions to a fund, or joint developments. The next paragraphs provide more detail on these options.
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6.2.4 Stakeholders
Especially during the workshop but also during follow-up conversations and other meetings, the need for an economic assessment was widely acknowledged by the different public institutions. The need for transparency, optimization of economic development opportunities and understanding the need for long-term effects were confirmed. There was agreement and interest in gathering and understanding information on the potential benefits and beneficiaries, and to study possible contributions to maintenance and operational costs.
6.2.5 Economic development opportunities in the Río Salado basin
Different hypotheses on possible economic development were drafted and discussed with various stakeholders of the Río Salado basin. The main economic activities in the flooding area are agricultural, including both crop cultivation as well as cattle breeding.
Currently, the areas that get flooded frequently cannot be used to their full potential. Based on discussions with farmers, agricultural representatives, public officials, and researchers, the following effects and limitations might be expected from the proposed works in the Río Salado: - First of all, the reduction of flooding will reduce damage to crops. The farmers will be able to harvest more and with more certainty, which should lead to an increase in profits. - Secondly, some farmland which is currently unused because of a high frequency of floods will be cultivated. From discussions with the farmers it can be concluded that their primary expectation is to increase productivity by cultivating more of the same crop. This is due to several reasons: - Economies of scale: Some farmers only grow one crop, and only have the equipment and experience for this crop. If the additional patch of land is not significantly large, the farmer will not change the production to a different crop with a higher yield. - Soil composition: the composition and quality of the soil differs along the river. Not every patch of land is suitable for crops that have a higher yield, such as potatoes or also soya and corn. - Soil maturity: Limitations also apply with regard to cultivating the elevated farmland (‘recintos’). It was confirmed by the National Institute for Agricultural Technology, INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) that the newly moved soil needs to settle and develop the needed structure and nutrients before it can be properly used for any crop cultivation. This process can take up to five years. In the meantime, only very basic grass will grow on the recintos. An increase in productivity can thus only be expected in the medium term. - Irrigation: crops with a high yield, such as potatoes, need irrigation, which is costly and thus only profitable at a certain scale. - The increased safety and certainty can also stimulate a transition to higher level of productivity, such as cultivating crops with a higher yield (within the limitations and described above): - Some farmers might transition from less productive cattle farming to more productive cattle farming (richer pastures), from cattle farming (pasture) to crop cultivation (grain), and others might move up the yield ladder further, transitioning from a more ‘durable’ crop with lower yield to a more ‘vulnerable’ crop with higher yield (e.g. soya and corn).
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- In some conversations, it has also been mentioned that the reduction of flood risk and the increased availability of land may also lead to a more multi-functional farm including different parts of the value chain, for example crop cultivation for cattle feeding and the breeding of cattle in feedlots or corrals. While this can be an economic opportunity through a higher level of productivity, feedlots have negative effects as well that reach beyond the farmland. The highly concentrated amount of manure and urine cannot be absorbed by the soil and often leads to pollution of groundwater and present an olfactory problem to the nearby area, among other negative effects. - In contrast to flooding, little to no attention has been given to any negative effects of the works in and along the river, for example, on possible threats of increased periods of water scarcity. As pointed out above, a sole focus on drainage will likely lead to an increase of the risk of droughts in years with low precipitation, as the little water will be discharged quickly. A balance has to be found to incorporate drainage solutions in wet periods as well as water retention capacity in dry periods.
- During the visit to the Rio Lujan the possibilities were discussed to construct a biomass plant. This plant could use the vegetation cleared from the river bed to produce energy. There is an evasive species, the Acacia Negra, that covers large parts of the cross sections of the river and caused a huge decrease in the discharge capacity of the river. Therefore, regular maintenance and clearance of this vegetation is needed and the province is seeking for effective use of this vegetation to produce energy. It has to be investigated whether such a biomass plant will be economically and technically feasible in the long term. During the feasibility study it should also be assessed whether a combination with the production of energy from watste water and solid waste. A feasibility study could lead to the conclusion that it will be efficient to combine the re-use of these waste products on a local scale – close to the ‘source’. The technology of combining different types of waste to produce energy is already developed in many places, for example in the Amsterdam region by the Amsterdam Energy Company in close cooperation with Waternet as responsible authority for the wastewater treatment.
The DRR-Team received little input or enthusiasm for economic activities beyond agriculture in the flooded area. This can be due to the limited number of people that could be consulted in the short time period. It can also be an indication for a limited knowledge of or inspiration on different economic opportunities for the region. One example is fishery or other forms of aquaculture, which do not seem to be considered by the local entrepreneurs. Another example is the tourism industry: especially with regard to the destruction of the natural flow of the river and the respective habitat, there seemed to be little consideration for the possible value of this land for touristic activity.
With regard to opportunities for transportation of goods or people on the Río Salado it can be concluded from various conversations with public officials and stakeholders that the depth of the river is insufficient and uncertain and will thus not be considered as a means of transportation.
6.2.6 Socio-economic benefits in the Río Salado basin
With regard to social benefits in the Río Salado basin, the consulted stakeholders also mentioned various positive socio-economic effects that they expect with the reduced flood risk. During periods of flooding, the reachability of some villages and cities is seriously impaired. Typical
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problems include children not being able to attend school for days or periods of days, sick and elderly people not having access to needed medications and increased travel times due to detours, both for local traffic as well as trucks passing through. Social benefits to be expected thus include better education and health care, travel time reduction and an improved reliability of transport.
6.2.7 Integrated projects and added benefits
The DRR-Team noted that little attention seems to be given to actively developing the plans for the Río Salado basin while maximizing social and economic effects. The proposed works seem to have been developed from a purely technical point of view, first of all, and with a single objective in mind: flood risk reduction. Any downside or negative consequences (such as little availability of water in dry periods, environmental effects) or upside / further opportunities (social, economic) are not or only scarcely considered.
6.2.8 Recommendations and development opportunities
- Carry out a comprehensive economic assessment of the Río Salado works, including - An ex-post evaluation of the impact of the earlier works, including prevented damage assessment - An ex-ante study of the proposed works, including an assessment of the damages or business losses caused by flooding. - Coordinate with economic study for World Bank financing currently carried out. - Include long-term costs and benefits in the study - Widen scope (or use as starting point for a wider scope) for understanding the effects for the river basin as a whole, not only the area that is subject to World Bank financing. - Use economic assessment to improve plans for the remaining works, for example, by realizing additional benefits, by understanding and minimizing negative effects (e.g. water scarcity in dry periods), and overall, by creating value in both the short and long term. - Continue the dialogue with farmers and other economic players in the region to understand what the pre-conditions are for an increase in productivity of the farmland. It could be valuable to identify the possible need for capacity building on, for example, different crop cultivation. In order for the area to really make a transition to a higher productivity, some transition support might be needed (educational, financial, and technical). - In the long term, it is recommended to include economic assessments in decision making processes, both on provincial level as well as national level.
6.3 Funding and financing - short, medium and long term
During the workshop and other meetings, various issues and opportunities with regard to funding and financing (figure 25) were presented and discussed.
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Figure 26 Funding and Financing
The workshop included some capacity building elements on the differences between and purposes of funding and financing. The most important findings with regard to funding and financing flood risk reduction projects, both in the Río Salado as well as the Río Lujan, are the following: - Financial feasibility: There is no comprehensive analysis of the feasibility of the works. The projects seem to be realized on a rather ad-hoc basis with little financial analysis and planning involved. - Cost recovery: Currently, there is no plan or instrument in place for the direct and active recuperation of value created by the works. The public officials are very interested in learning more about instruments for value capture, such as special contributions (for example, a dedicated ‘flood area tax’) or joint developments. This is in addition to their interest in the funding mechanisms that are in place for the Dutch water authorities. - Short vs. long term: There is an imbalance between the short and long term. It was acknowledged by all participants of the workshop and confirmed in further conversations, that the primary focus is the realization of short term financing, then the repayment of the financing, and that there is hardly any attention to maintenance. There is little awareness with regard to preserving the value of the investment in the long run. In other words, there is a need for a long-term strategy for the planned works, both on a technical and financial level. - Long term funding: The lack of a long term financial plan is not necessarily due to a lack of funding in general. It was confirmed that the problem is rather a lack of planning, priority, and earmarked funds for maintenance and operation.
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Figure 27 Improving financial feasibility
Both funding and financing is needed for the planned works in the Río Salado and the other river basins on a short, medium, and long term basis. The following paragraphs highlight some very preliminary findings based on the mission.
6.4 Funding
6.4.1 National Water Fund
From what could be gathered in the short period of the mission, the main sources of funding the investments for the works are the Province (receiving budgets from the Federal government) and the ‘Fondo Hídrico’, or the Water Fund. The latter is a national fund for water projects, funded by fuel taxes. This fund appears to have not been used to its full potential in the last years due to problems with mismanagement and devaluation and inflation. Recently, the situation appears to have improved. The fund is supposed to be used for water projects (ca. 98% of the amount) and some related studies (ca. 2% of the amount). The projects that are to be funded are defined in the National Water Plan (Plan Nacional del Agua) a high level strategic plan for water works which has recently been published (April 2016) and which is supposed to be updated every five years. At a first glance, this seems to be promising for funding large water (infrastructure) investments in the coming years, as the fund has a rather constant income through fuel taxes. However, these funds are focusing on the initial investments of the projects – the focus is short term. What is missing is a plan for funding the expenses in the medium and long term, especially maintenance costs.
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6.4.2 Provincial budgets for maintenance of large water projects
One preliminary conclusion from the interviews during the mission is that there is a mismatch between (1) the potential maintenance tasks a province has to take on in order to maintain the value of a water investment, and (2) the budget that is available for these tasks. This is not a problem specific for the Province of Buenos Aires but applies to every province. The budget allocated to the provinces is based on a key that is linked to socio-economic criteria such as demographics. Large projects in water, an example being the works in the Río Salado, are mainly funded by national budgets, such as the Water Fund. Once the project is realized, its maintenance is likely to go in the hands of the respective province. However, no additional budget is allocated to the province for maintaining the (new) asset in addition to the general budget.
From what can be concluded from the interviews, this has caused (and is likely to cause in the future) a serious lack of maintenance of the water works.
Tying back into the economic findings, this lack of maintenance can cause the benefits of the project(s) to diminish rapidly: if the dredging in the Río Salado is not maintained, and the capacity is reduced through sediment movements, the risk of flooding increases again. This can have a negative effect, especially on the economic opportunities that require a long-term investment.
6.4.3 Cost-recovery and opportunities for the creation of a dedicated fund
An idea that has been presented and discussed in the workshop is the creation of a water fund for the Río Salado in particular but for other river basins or specific areas in general. This fund could be fed by special contributions in the form of fees or taxes, collected in the same area that benefits from the projects along the river. For example, an additional tax could be applied to all the companies or households in the river basin, dedicated to maintaining the quality of the works (e.g. by performing continuous dredging). During the workshop, examples from the Netherlands and the US were provided, in which so called Special Assessment Districts is used to fund transit projects or urban developments. An advantage of a tax (on land value or company income) is that the contribution grows with the added value: the more value is created through the reduced flood risk, the higher the contribution. At the same time, this is also a disadvantage, as the total amount generated is variable and might take time to reach its full potential. Instead of introducing a new tax, there are other forms of so-called ‘value capture instruments’, that could generate the funds for the suggested maintenance fund. Also, some form of value capture can be used for paying back part of the principal investment, in other words, as a form of cost recovery. By creating a dedicated fund, financial security for the maintenance task is improved, supporting proper planning of maintenance works. It must be noted, that earmarking a certain budget of the Province (possibly also generated by taxes) can lead to the same outcome. However, having a fund on the level of a river basin has two major advantages: Firstly, the people that benefit also contribute, and in return, those that contribute, also benefit. This makes justifying additional contributions easier and reduces opposition. Secondly, earmarking on a provincial level can be a less sustainable solution, as the budget might be subject to changes too easily if political stability is not given.
This idea has been briefly discussed during the workshop and with stakeholders. The overall impression was, that the stakeholders are willing to discuss some form of participation in the investments or maintenance of the works through one time investments or continuous contributions. At the same time, it was stressed that improvements with regard to governance and
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clarity on roles and responsibilities are an indispensable condition for such an instrument to succeed. Please also compare the recommendations for funding in the chapter on water governance.
Opportunities for a revolving fund have briefly been discussed as well. Simply put, a revolving fund is a financing instrument, based on a loan-and-repayment structure. This can only work if the projects that are financed will pay back the loan provided with the income from revenues or other contributions. Pure cost projects such as the works in the Río Salado and especially the respective maintenance do not generate income. A revolving fund is more suited for financing investment projects, with a certain income for repayment (e.g. hydropower or irrigation projects).
6.4.4 Funding maintenance through re-use of material
As said above, there is a lack of awareness that the completed and future works in the Río Salado will only have long term benefits if both technical and financial planning is in place with regard to maintenance. This includes planning for the actual dredging activities as well as developing solutions for disposing or re-using the dredged soil. The latter has been mentioned as one of the reasons why maintenance is currently not on the agenda – the disposal of the dredged material of the current works, mostly in the form of landfills, has been challenging as deals have to be made with the private land owners.
In the Netherlands, there is an established market segment for dredged and other material, in the form of soil banks (figure 27). These soil banks provide deposit space for different types of soil and re-sell it, for example, to construction companies. Depending on the market price for soil or sand, and the costs associated with such a bank, a similar soil deposit structure could be a solution for disposing and re-using the dredged soil from any future maintenance activities. While a soil bank might not be the solution everywhere and only on some locations (e.g. those with construction activities in the vicinity), it would be worthwhile studying such a solution further.
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Figure 28 Example of a soil bank
A variation of such a business could be potentially interesting for a Public Private Partnership: the authority in charge of the maintenance program could contract a private consortium for a 10-30 year period to perform the maintenance work, transport the soil to the soil deposit, and operate the soil deposit. With the revenue generated through re-sale of the material, part of the maintenance expenses could be recovered. With this approach, the soil is regarded as a potential product, not a liability. This idea was presented at the workshop and later discussed with various stakeholders, both public and private. The overall reaction has been positive, which supports the suggestion to further research this opportunity.
6.5 Financing
With regard to financing the works in the Río Salado and also in other river basins in Argentina, two topics have been of main importance during the mission: the role and requirements of international lenders (e.g. the World Bank) as well as potential for public private partnerships.
6.5.1 International finance institutions
International finance institutions function for a great deal like commercial banks, providing loans and requiring repayment with interest. In contrast to commercial banks, the interest rates are usually lower, and repayment schemes less strict, for example allowing longer grace periods. While these institutions usually have different requirements with regard to the financial terms,
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they also have different and additional requirements with regard to social, economic and environmental terms, including but not limited to poverty alleviation or sustainability. The World Bank, CAF and IADB are already involved in different river basins in the Province Buenos Aires. Water and resilience projects are high on the agenda for those three parties, and financing can be available for concrete future projects in the water sector. Limited grants for technical assistance (with studies, capacity building) are available but need to be discussed on a specific basis in more detail. The World Bank is active in the Río Salado basin. In various discussions, the need for coordinated action on strengthening the water authorities, including ADA and local committees have been confirmed. The World Bank agrees with the general findings of the mission that the plans for the Río Salado would benefit from a more integrated approach and a vision for the long term. In general, discussions with the IFI’s lead to the conclusion that a more integrated approach is being supported by them as the way forward to come to a more sustainable development of the river basins. The CAF, WB and IDB are seeking a basin approach in their assistance to the province of Buenos Aires. The World Bank focusses on the Rio Salado while the CAF focusses on Rio Lujan and recently approved a loan of 219 million US dollar (https://www.caf.com/es/actualidad/noticias/2016/07/caf-aprueba-usd-219-millones-para-mejorar- la-gestion-integral-del-agua-en-argentina/?parent=14137) .
BUENOS AIRES IN TALKS FOR US$380MN SALADO RIVER WORKS LOAN
By Brena Sena - Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Source:Telam
The governor of Argentina's Buenos Aires province, María Eugenia Vidal, met with World Bank officials in the US to seek a US$380mn loan to help pay for work it plans to carry out along the Salado river.
(http://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/waterandwaste/buenos-aires-in-talks-for-us380mn-salado- river-works-loan/)
A decision is due to be announced in March, Argentina's state-run news service Télam reported.
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6.5.2 Public Private Partnerships
Public Private Partnerships (figure 28) can offer various benefits to flood risk reduction projects in specific as well as for other projects in other sectors in Argentina in general.
Figure 29 PPP constructions
Two of the benefits should be highlighted here in particular: efficiency and long term certainty. First of all, there is plenty of evidence that PPP projects excel in being realized on time and within budget. The quality to cost ratio, or the ‘value for money’ PPPs deliver is higher than for
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traditional projects, due to a focus on lifecycle management and performance based payments. Given the limited financial resources for the flood protection projects, PPPs could be a way forward.
Furthermore, PPPs are usually long term contracts that include the design and construction, but also a period of maintenance. Given the difficulties that Argentina is facing with regard to maintenance of the projects, PPPs might provide a beneficial solution.
A concrete application for a PPP has been mentioned above: the idea of introducing a soil bank or soil deposit, in combination with a long-term maintenance contract for the river and canals. Another application can be larger infrastructures, like locks or sluices, if applicable. The Netherlands has been rapidly building experience with PPPs in locks and sluices in the last couple of years.
Nonetheless, PPPs also require strong institutions, knowledge and capacity as well as a certain market readiness. The new PPP bill has yet to be passed, and knowledge and capacity built up. Internationally there is ample experience with PPP to exchange of knowledge and expertise. The World Bank and others have special programs dedicated to PPPs and have signaled interest in developments in this direction in the course of the mission. The Inter-American Development Bank has two programs, one for loans to the public (federal government) and one for loans to the private (PPP consortia).
6.6 Recommendations with regard to funding and financing:
- Analyze further the opportunities provided by the National Water Funds for projects in the Río Salado basin. - Study further and evaluate options for recuperation through value capture, possibly in a dedicated regional fund for maintenance. - Continue the dialogue with the major beneficiaries on contributing to the investments or maintenance (linked to the value capture options but also independent of that). - Develop financial planning for the long term, especially for major projects. - Intensify dialogue with IFIs on requirements and preferences with respect to economic assessments and opportunities. - Research challenges and opportunities with regard to the re-use of dredged soil from maintenance activities, including the development of a soil bank (possibly through a PPP). - Identify funding sources for investing in PPP knowledge through capacity building such as trainings and best practice exchange with more experienced countries. - Identify opportunities for realizing larger projects in a PPP, as IFIs have indicated their support of these project delivery solutions.
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7 OVERARCHING ASSESSMENT OF RECOMMENDATIONS
The meetings with the different stakeholders and the visits to the Rio Salado and the Rio Lujan led to the following recommendations.
The overarching challenge is to move towards integrated planning. The national water plan as well as the provincial water plan indicate that integrated water management is needed to achieve a sustainable development of the water system that facilitates in an optimal manner the socio- economic and ecological development. However, when it comes to planning at the basin level, current Argentinian water plans are very much directed towards structural measures to reduce flood risks and to improve water quality. At this level, to be successful in the achievement of national water-related ambitions in the Rio Salado Basin, it is needed to seek a strong interaction with spatial development plans as well as with other plans that describe the developments that are to be expected in the planning period of the water plan and beyond. Integration of plans will improve the investment of available means as it provides the input needed to combine different developments in such a way that there are mutual benefits. Furthermore, integrated planning also leads to the needed developments at institutional, legal and relational level.
A National Water Plan was published in 2016 and the province has a water plan that was approved in 2007, a hydraulic plan of 2009 and a provincial hydraulic plan 2017-2023. It is recommended to elaborate an update of this plan at provincial level, using the national water plan as framework and to prepare this plan in an integrated manner. Furthermore, it is recommended to elaborate this parallel to the development of two basin plans with distinct characteristics (urban / rural). In preparing these distinct plans, experience can be gained at different levels (strategic, tactic and operational). This experience can strengthen the plans, especially in the interaction between the different actors and the specific needs (content, institutional, relational) related to the characteristics of the basins
Information available should be used in a more effective manner. Capacity building is needed to assure that the province is aware of all the information that is already assembled and that the knowledge institutions responsible for collecting information understand the relevant questions at provincial level. Therefore, communication between these institutions and the responsible authorities should be intensified.
Elaborating the provincial and basin plans are great opportunities for the AdA to develop the required capacity. Therefore, they should be in the lead and where needed, coached and trained by external parties that have experience with the elaboration of these types of plans. With this experience the AdA will be able to continue their work for other river basins. AdA needs to elaborate a development plan for the authority itself. This plan should answer questions like: What is the role of AdA? How can AdA prepare itself for this role? How can the authority facilitate involved stakeholders in carrying out their duties proficiently?
A communication plan is needed to inform stakeholders on who is responsible for what, to be transparent on what is being done and the results that are being achieved. Transparency in communication will increase trust and willingness to pay when stakeholders see that ‘their’ investment pays off.
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The development of plans will also put them in the position to cooperate intensively with the committees that have been or are to be established to become responsible for water management in the basins. These ‘Comites de Cuenca’, their responsibilities and the instruments that they have to carry out their duties need to be described in the basin plans as well.
Whilst preparing these plans a development has to be prepared that assures that water management is being financed in a sustainable manner. That means that the instruments are to be developed to generate sufficient means to cover all four segments of the planning cycle. There should be sufficient means to properly plan, to implement plans and to monitor the effect of these plans. If objectives are not achieved with the interventions, it will be necessary to either adjust the objectives or to plan additional interventions. It should be underlined that interventions are not only structural water works but do also include institutional, legal and relational interventions. It has to be clear what the responsibilities are of the authorities involved and which instruments they have to perform their duties. Studies and monitoring has to improve the level of information for decision making and a clear communication strategy has to be established to assure that all actors are informed and know how what their role is in a sustainable development of the water system.
To be able to plan, to implement, to monitor and to evaluate, sufficient data is essential. This information is available up to a certain level but it is also needed to extend the existing monitoring networks. With the additional information, it will also be possible to improve the information that can be provided to the different stakeholders in the basin. This will enable them to improve planning in the long term, as well as to react in a proper manner to upcoming floods or droughts with the early warning systems. The development of these monitoring networks as well as the analysis of the information that becomes available can best be done at a provincial or national level. Several initiatives are already ongoing to improve the availability of information. It is recommended to assure that thorough feasibility or identification studies are carried out before large investments are being made. This is the only way to minimize the chance of over- and underinvestment and to optimize the compatibility of the equipment used, the efficiency of collecting and analyzing information and the usability of the information by the stakeholders that are responsible to make the decisions.
To sustain the required investment level for an integrated management of the water resources (quantity as well as quality), it is necessary to assure that the benefits of the investments outweigh the costs. Therefore, it is recommended to start with ex ante and ex post evaluations of the interventions carried out and planned respectively. It will be a challenge to retrieve and collect all the information needed to thoroughly assess and evaluate, but exactly this information is the key for sound decision making as well as the ability to sustain the decisions in the public and political arena. While assessing and evaluating benefits, information on direct as well as indirect benefits has to be collected. Interventions can reduce the risks of flooding and droughts with their direct economic benefits of avoided damage on crops and property, but there are also indirect effects related to health and education that have to be considered.
This document contains important recommendations on integrated management, on water governance, on water quality, on monitoring and early warning systems and on financing, funding and costs and benefits. These recommendations are detailed in their respective chapters and have to be addressed in combination with this overarching assessment.
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In the annexes four action plans or road maps are drafted. These actions have been prioritized with the under secretariat of water resources to assist in the development of concrete actions to improve the management of their water system. To increase the effectiveness of the outcome of these action plans they have to be implemented in close coordination. In that way, they will add in an optimal manner to the implementation of integrated management covering all levels of water governance
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ANNEX A – DRR-TEAM Dutch Risk Reduction Team: reducing the risk of water related disasters
Many countries around the world face severe water threats. Often, these countries are in urgent need of expert advice on how to prevent a disaster or how to recover from a calamity. For instance, when a country has been struck by severe flooding and the first emergency relief workers have gone, the need for advice on how to build a sustainable and safer water future arises. To meet these needs with a swift response, the Dutch government has initiated the Dutch Risk Reduction Team (DRR-Team). This team of experts advises governments on how to resolve urgent water issues related to flood risks, water pollution and water supply, to prevent disasters or to rebuild after water related disasters. With climate change and a fast-growing world population, water issues are becoming more urgent. As a country renowned for its’ expertise on water and delta management, the Netherlands feels a responsibility to share its’ knowledge worldwide. That is just what the DRR-Team does; sharing expertise with governments to come up with the best possible approach/solutions for tackling urgent water issues. Because of the unique cooperation between government and sector, the best experts can be fielded quickly. The Dutch government offers a specific number of advisory missions each year.
Advice for all water issues
The Netherlands has brought its best water experts together in the Dutch Risk Reduction Team. It consists of high level advisors supported by a broad base of technical experts who can provide top quality and tailor made expertise to governments that are confronted with severe and urgent water challenges. The Dutch are experts in adapting to water in a changing world; from delta management to water technology, from urban planning to governance, public private partnerships and financial engineering.
How does the DRR-Team work?
Governments that have to deal with an urgent water issue are encouraged to contact the Dutch embassy in their region. The embassy will liaise quickly with the Dutch government. Interventions will only take place after a request from a central government has been received by the Dutch government, and after a recent calamity or to prevent a threatening disaster. The DRR-Team does not focus on emergency relief, but on sustainable solutions. If the decision to respond to the request is made, relevant Dutch experts will be rapidly fielded to the area that is under pressure. Together with the government and local experts, the situation will be assessed and analyzed after which the team will come up with a set of recommendations. For example, advice on technical interventions including immediate measures and long term sustainable solutions, advice on governance and advice on financing options. The DRR-Team enables a foreign government to take action on the basis of sound advice and expertise.
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ANNEX B – PROGRAM Integrantes Misión DRR: Klaas de Groot (Arcadis), Marcela Laguzzi (Dutch Water Authorities), Otto de Keizer (Deltares), Irene Pohl (Rebel Group) & Marina Gaton Gonzalez (Waternet)
Fecha: 11 al 15 de Octubre
Provincia de Buenos Aires: Felipe Llorente – 15-6403-9541 Embajada Países Bajos: Juan Manuel Albisetti – 15-3775-9176 Maria José de Lazzer – 15-5151-0093 Ines Rzadzinska – 15-5876-1251
Hora Actividad Participantes Lugar Martes 11 de Octubre 08:00- Reunión equipo DRR y Embajada Embajada de Holanda – Embajada y DRR 09:00 Olga Cossettini 831 09:30- Introducción de la Misión DRR (Kickoff) DRR 11.00 Anuncio firma de Declaración Conjunta Embajada Presentación equipo DRR, agenda, objetivos. Jefatura Gabinete Nación Presentación de parte de Subsecretaría de Subsec. Recursos Hídricos Ministerio de Hacienda Recursos Hídricos (Nación) y Subsecretaría Nación Hacienda – Hipólito de Infraestructura Hidráulica (Prov. Bs.As) Ministerio de Yrigoyen 250 (Salón sobre expectativas y objetivos de la misión. Agroindustria PBA Negro, Piso 10) Ministerio de Agroindustria sobre valor y Subsec. Infraestructura usos de la tierra Hidráulica PBA Dir. Pcial Gestión de Riesgos
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Dir. de Cooperación Internacional ENOHSA Grupo BAPRO Organismos de Financiamiento Internacional AySA OPDS 11:00- Hotel Hilton Cambio de ropa (para recorrida en
11.30 Luján) 11.30 Traslado a Río Luján Combi - Felipe DRR Salida desde hotel Equipo provincia Hilton 13:00- Recorrido sectores Río Luján Combi - Felipe DRR
15:00 Equipo Provincia 16:00 – Reunión con Intendentes Combi - Felipe DRR Museo de Arte de Luján 17:00 Equipo Provincia - Lezia y Torres Zurri 18:00 Traslado a CABA Combi - Felipe
20:00 Cena Libre
Miércoles 12 de Octubre Team A Team B 08:15 Salida hacia NH Hotel City desde el Hilton Hilton Hotel
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9:00- WORKSHOP EN MANEJO DE CUENCAS WORKSHOP EN MANEJO DE DRR 12:30 - Marco regulatorio de manejo de CUENCAS Embajada cuencas en la PBA - Marco regulatorio de manejo ADA - Situación actual de cuencas en la de cuencas en la PBA Subsec. Recursos Hídricos provincia - Situación actual de cuencas Nación (o a quien - Presentación general del Plan en la provincia designe) Maestro del Río Salado. Aspecto - Presentación general del OPDS económico. Aspecto ambiental Plan Maestro del Río Salado. - Presentación Manejo de Cuencas en Aspecto económico. Aspecto los Países Bajos y otros modelos. ambiental Presentación Manejo de Cuencas en ------los Países Bajos y otros modelos. 11:00 Coffe break ------11:20 Coffe break
11:30 Klaas, Otto, Marina e Irene atienden otras 11.00 hr - Angel Menéndez (Instituto 12.30 reuniones Nacional del Agua. Consultor externo NH Hotel City – Bolívar de DP Hidráulica de Prov. Bue. Aires. 120 A cargo de actualización de Sala Da Vinci – Piso 6 factibilidad económica-financiera del Plan Maestro del Salado). Tema: Aspectos económicos financieros del Salado. 11.30hs: Tiziano Pintos. Subsecretario de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca 12.00hs: Dirección Provincial de Monitoreo hidro-ambiental. Carlos Bonalli, Juan Berrone y Bernardo
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Herrero. Tema: Sistema de monitoreo y alerta temprana. 13.00hs: - Virginia Lainos: Directora NH Hotel City – Bolívar Provincial de Riesgos (Otto) 120 - Fundación Humedales (TBC) Sala Da Vinci – Piso 6
13:00- Almuerzo Almuerzo 13:40 13:45- CONTINUACION WORKSHOP (ML) 14: 00 hr – 15:00 (waternet) 15.00 - Intercambio de experiencias. Debate Carlos Fernandez (Director Urbaser de modelos de Manejo de Cuencas SA), Carlos Adan Chocano (Presidente Urbaser SA) y Horacio Herrera (SEOB SA). Tema: Planta de Biomasa de Luján. 15.00 hr Salida caminando al COHIFE San Martín 320 15:30- Reunión COHIFE Convoca Subsecretaría de Recursos Equipo DRR 16:45 Hídricos de la Nación. Subsec. Recursos Hídricos Nación Sede COHIFE – San Subsec. Infraestructura Martín 320 Hidráulica PBA COHIFE 16:45 Traslado a Casa de Gobierno Traslado a Casa de Gobierno
17:30 Firma Declaración Conjunta Firma Declaración Conjunta de Ministro Frigerio de Cooperación en Manejo de Recursos Embajador Países Bajos Cooperación en Manejo de Recursos Hídricos Hídricos Subsec. Recursos Hídricos Casa de Gobierno Nación Pablo Bereciartua.
Gobernadora Vidal (tbc) Subsec. Infraestructura Hidráulica PBA (Silvosa)
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Representantes Provincia Córdoba/Santa Fe/La Pampa Cena Libre
Jueves 13 de Octubre 08.00 Salida a Gral. Belgrano Combi Felipe DRR Embajada Hotel Hilton Equipo Provincia 10:00- Recorrida de terreno, por tierra y aire Encuentro con 12:30 Eduardo Ezcurdia, Director Regional INTA General Belgrano Ernesto Maletti, Director Estación de Servicio YPF INTA del Salado ruta 29 pasar roton ruta 41 13:00
Almuerzo con Productores Restorant El Almacén, 15:00 Reunión con intendentes Intendentes de > Av. 2 de septiembre y General Belgrano, Gral Paz, Roque Calle Ayacucho Perez, Lobos (Jorge Etcheverry)
16:30 Salida para Buenos Aires
Cena Libre
Viernes 14 de Octubre 09:00 – Skype con Carlos di Bella – Director Instituto Pilu Giraudo (Min. Agroindustria Equipo DRR Embajada de Holanda – 10:00 Clima y Agua (INTA) Nación) Embajada Olga Cossettini 831 Equipo Provincia
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10:00- Reunión con Pilu Giraudo (Min. Equipo DRR 11:30 Agroindustria Nación) + Pedro Vigneau Embajada Embajada (Presidente Aapresid) Claudio Carretero Equipo Provincia (Productor en Bolivar) 10:00- Reunión con AySA Waternet 11:00 Fernando Calatroni – Dirección de
Planificación Técnica Ana Colombo – Gerencia procesos de plantas 11:00- Belén Ferrari - Agencia de Protección Waternet Embajada 12:00 Ambiental – CABA 11:30 – Ana Ferhman – Directora de Ordenamiento Embajada 12:30 Territorial 12:00- Reunión con CEAMSE Waternet 13:00 Marcelo Rosso – Gerente de nuevas tecnologías y control ambiental
12:30 Prensa Invitados Periodistas que visitaron Holanda en Agosto 16 (coordina PCZ) 14:30 a Continuación y cierre Workshop de Gestión Embajada 16:30 de Cuencas
19:00 Cena Casa de Rodrigo Silvosa (Belgrano)
Sábado 15 de Octubre Espacio de reuniones hasta 12hs Embajada/ Hilton
15:45 Salida vuelo a Ámsterdam Ezeiza
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ANNEX C – WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS AND PERSONS INTERVIEWED Workshop
Nombre y Apellido Institución Agustín Vich Autoridad del Agua Patricia Natale Autoridad del Agua María Alejandra Gilardi Autoridad del Agua Guillermo Baldello Autoridad del Agua Bernardo Arturo Herrero Autoridad del Agua Pablo Rodrigué Autoridad del Agua, Presidente Agustín Sanchez Sorondo Autoridad del Agua, Vice-presidente Roberto Montanelli Autoridad del Agua Tiziano Pintos Subsecretaria Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca Pcia. Bs.As. Jorge Srodek Ministerio Agroindustria Pcia. Bs As Carlos Lacunza Subsecretaria de Recursos Hídricos de la Nación Andrea J. Valladares Subsecretaria de Recursos Hídricos de la Nación Marcelo Gaviño Novillo Subsecretaria de Recursos Hídricos de la Nación Claudia S. Irazu Subsecretaria de Evaluación de Proyectos con Financiamiento Externo – Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros Ángel Menéndez Instituto Nacional del Agua (INA), consultor Felipe Llorente Sub-Secretaria de Recursos Hídricos de la Pcia. Bs.As. Marc Hasselaar Embajada del Reino de Los Países Bajos en Argentina Juan Manuel Albisetti Embajada del Reino de Los Países Bajos en Argentina Maria Jose de Lasser Embajada del Reino de Los Países Bajos en Argentina Ines Rzadzinkska Embajada del Reino de Los Países Bajos en Argentina Klaas de Groot Miembro Dutch Risk Reduction Team Otto de Keizer Miembro Dutch Risk Reduction Team Irene Pohl Miembro Dutch Risk Reduction Team Marina Gaton Miembro Dutch Risk Reduction Team Marcela Laguzzi Miembro Dutch Risk Reduction Team
Interviews
Nombre y Apellido Institución Rodrigo Silvosa Sub-Secretario de Recursos Hídricos de Pcia. Bs. As. Pablo Rodrigué Autoridad del Agua, Presidente Agustín Sanchez Autoridad del Agua, Vice-presidente Sorondo Felipe Llorente Sub-Secretaria de Recursos Hídricos de Pcia. Bs. As. Pablo Bereciartua Sub-Secretario de Recursos Hídricos de la Nación Marcelo Gaviño Novillo Sub-Secretaria de Recursos Hídricos de la Nación Virginia Laino Directora Provincial de Gestión de Riesgo y Emergencias Subsecretaria de Asuntos Metropolitanos e Interjurisdiccionales - Ministerio de Coordinación y Gestion Publica – Pcia BsAs Leonardo A. Gobetti Director Provincial de Islas
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Subsecretaria de Asuntos Metropolitanos e Interjurisdiccionales - Ministerio de Coordinación y Gestion Publica – Pcia BsAs Mario A. Gschaider Director Provincial de Obra Hidráulica Sub-Secretaria de Recursos Hídricos de Pcia. Bs. As. Osvaldo M. Dinápoli Intendente del partido de General Belgrano Jorge O. Etcheverry Intendente del partido de Lobos Juan Carlos Gasparini Intendente del partido de Roque Perez Juan Manuel Alvarez Intendente (i) del partido de General Paz (Ranchos). Falta nombre CARBAP Miembros de COHIFE Mario Rujana (presidente, Pcia Corrientes), (consejo hídrico federal) Eduardo dos Santos (CABA) Bettina Laurenzano (Pcia. Neuquén) Ignacio Enriquez (secretario ejecutivo COHIFE) Edgardo Castellano (COREBE, Pcia. Formosa) Roberto Porta (Pcia. Santa Fe) Clemente Etchegaray (Pcia. De Salta) Fabián Mazzanti (Pcia. Buenos Aires) Laura Pertussi (Subsec. Rec. Hídr. Nación)- Calidad de agua. María Josefa Fioriti (Subsec. Rec. Hídr. Nación) – Aguas subterráneas. Adrián D. Sanchez Intendente Exaltación de la Cruz – COMILU Oscar Luciani Intendente Lujan - COMILU Diego Valenzuela Intendente 3 de febrero - COMILU Darío Kubar Intendente Gral. Rodríguez - COMILU Carlos Puglieli Intendente San Andrés de Giles - COMILU Juan de Ros Intendente Mercedes - COMILU Alejandro Federico Intendente Suipacha - COMILU Montalbo Director de Hidráulica de Pilar - COMILU Leticia Villalba Subsecretaria de Gestion Ambiental, Municipio de Tigre - COMILU Catalina Romero Banco Mundial – oficina Buenos Aires Carlos di Bello INTA (Instituto Nacional de Técnicas Agropecuarias). Cuentan con un Programa Nacional del Agua – Programa de cuencas(en Santiago del Estero) María Beatriz (Pilu) Ministerio de Agroindustria de La Nación – Coordinación de Políticas Giraudo para Desarrollo Sustentable y Plan Belgrano Propietaria de campos en provincias Santa Fe y Cordoba Esteban Llavallol Ministerio de Agroindustria de La Nación – Director de Estudios Técnicos y Económicos Propietario de campos en la cuenca del Salado (Castelli) Mariano Iturraga Administrador de campos en la cuenca del Salado (cerca de la desembocadura, Castelli y en Vallimanca, Bolivar)
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ANNEX D - ROADMAP PROVINCIAL WATER PLAN
In April 2016, the Republic of Argentina published a National Water Plan. This plan includes steps forward for the period 2017-2019 to realize a long-term vision where: - there is water supply and sanitation for all inhabitants - the population is protected against flooding - the productive development is promoted through irrigation - projects are carried out to use and preserve water resources.
At provincial level, it is also necessary to develop a framework for water management to assure that interventions in the years to come will assist in effectively and efficiently achieving these objectives. To elaborate such a Provincial Water Plan a series of steps have to be taken. In the following text a first outline of a proposal is presented to organize the process to arrive at such a Provincial Water Plan. These steps include:
- Framework and objectives - Ambition and plan horizon - Policy and thematic approach - Planning process o Actual situation o Objectives - strategic vision o What are the possible pathways towards that situation? o What are the effects of these pathways? o Which pathway is the preferred pathway? o Developing an implementation program - Organization - Communication - Timing - Quality
Framework and objectives First the scope or framework of the Provincial Water Plan should be agreed upon. It seems logical to use the national water plan of April 2016 as the framework. The Provincial Water Plan should detail further the objectives and initiatives indicated in the National Water Plan and should assure that the specific characteristics of the Province in relation to the water system and the interaction between the water system and the economic, social and ecological developments are sufficiently covered.
The Province has to decide upon the objectives that should be achieved with management of the water system, being reduction of the flooding, assuring a certain availability of water and to assure that the water bodies in the province answer to the quality standers.
Ambition and Plan Horizon Ambitions are directly connected to the objectives to be reached. These ambitions have to be made SMART (specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic and in how much time they have to be achieved). If ambitions and objectives are made SMART than it will be possible to transparently follow the Deming Circle of Plan/Do/Check/Act. Without SMART objectives, it will not be possible to evaluate effectiveness of policies and interventions. The Provincial Water Plan can have different time horizons depending on whether the time frame is related to a long-term vision or on what should be achieved in the next years. Time
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frames of four to six years are very common and it could be wise to use the same time frame as the National Water Plan (4 years).
Policy and thematic approach It is important to be clear about the approach that is chosen on policies and themes. Different points of entrance are being used for these types of plans. This could be ‘Water Quantity’ and ‘Water Quality’, it can be ‘Flooding’, ‘Droughts’ and ‘Quality’, but it could also use economic, social and ecological developments as point of entry. It is important to decide upon which is used and to maintain that narrative. The approach used in the National Water Plan can be used for the Provincial Plan as well:
(source: Plan Nacional del Agua 2016-2019, 2016, Argentina)
Planning process The objective is to have a Provincial Water Plan. It has not been established yet what the content will be and which vision will be leading. Therefore, it is difficult to plan this as a project with clear milestones. Process management is crucial to deliver a provincial plan in the end. In the process a good organization and a clear action plan is needed. This process will cover the steps of a policy analysis: What is the actual situation? What are the objectives for the future situation? What are the possible pathways towards that situation? What are the effects of these pathways? Which pathway is the preferred pathway? The concept of adaptive water management can be adopted, assuring that development of the water system will be able to adapt to changing circumstances. As decisions, must be made for long time frames, many uncertainties are to be taken in to consideration (climate change, economic development, demographic development, technological development etc.). Therefore, it is advisable to develop a pathway that is flexible enough to adapt when development scenarios change.
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Actual situation Gathering information to describe the actual situation and the functioning of the water system and the interaction of the water stem with its surrounding systems. Questions of water demand and water availability (quality and quantity) are being discussed and the pressures caused by unbalances between demand and availability. The relation between the water system and spatial planning is discussed including the effect of changes in land use on the water system. The water system analysis provides an overview of opportunities as well as challenges related to water and how the water system can facilitate achieving the objectives of the involved acors.
Objectives - strategic vision The strategic vision will comprise the objectives that should be achieved with the management of the water system. From this perspective, the Water Plan will be the linking pin between the general development objectives of the province and the spatial development plan on the one side and what needs to be done in relation to the water system to facilitate these developments on the other side. To assure that the Provincial Water Plan will facilitate the planned development, the objectives in the Water Plan could best be related to the different uses/users of the resource. This way the plan will clearly state what is needed and actors will understand that the interventions that are included in the plan are proposed to allow these developments to take place. These sectors have specific demands in relation to water and that implies certain requirements in relation to the management of the water system.
What are the possible pathways towards that situation? To close the gap between the actual situation and the vision, interventions will be necessary. Many different interventions can be identified and the combinations of interventions is what can be called pathways towards the vision. This depends, for example, on the priorities that are included in the vision. It is not very feasible that all interventions can be carried out at the same time. The sequence of interventions could lead to different pathways, but also the choice in interventions can lead to alternative pathways.
What are the effects of these pathways It is essential to have the instruments that are needed to assess the effects of the pathways in the light of the objectives that have to be achieve through the Water Plan. Therefore a strong iteration exists between this step and the objectives to de defined in the second step. Those who will prepare a final decision need to have the instruments to provide the final decision makers with the information that they need for sound decision making.
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Which pathway is the preferred pathway? With the information that is made available, a preferred pathway can be selected. This is the pathway that answers best to the different objectives and the weights these objectives have. For the province of Buenos Aires this should lead to clear choices on which route will be taken and to explain to the stakeholders why this route has been chosen. A clear decision making process
Developing an implementation program As soon as a preferred pathway has been decided upon it is needed to develop an implementation program that includes an overview of all the interventions planned with their implementation time frame and the budgets required to assure that these budgets are being facilitated in the overarching budgeting processes at local, provincial and national level. As these budgets are to be allocated at different levels, these actors should to be involved to assure that there is broad support for the plans and for assuring that means are available.
Organization The AdA should be responsible for the initiation of the process to come to a Provincial Water Plan. For AdA to know how the organization should be set up and who to involve it is needed to carry out a stakeholder analysis. This analysis should identify the objectives of the stakeholders in relation to the process and the outcome.
This stakeholder analysis should lead to decisions on what position the stakeholders have on the participation ladder:
The organization and the participation of the different actors should be elaborated upon in an agreement to be ratified by all key stakeholders.
Communication The stakeholder analysis and the organization will lead to a communication strategy. When will actors be informed, how will they be informed and what will be done with the communication received by the actors. With a clear communication strategy it will be clear to the actors what is being expected from them and what they can expect from the process.
Timing As this comprises a process a project planning as such is very difficult to provide. However, a timeframe can be established at the beginning of the process while during the process regular evaluations will take place to decide whether it is necessary to adapt the planning. Taking the complexity of these processes a year seems to be a reasonable time frame to arrive at a shared vision on what needs to be done and how this can be done. This year comprises a first month to do the stakeholder analysis and gathering of available information.
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This is followed by a month period to define and agree upon the organization for the development of the plan.
Month Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Kickoff at Political level Stakeholderanalysis and inventory available information Process organization and communication plan Steering Committee X Vision, Objectives and criteria Steering Committee X Definition information gap and planning Defining development pathways Assessing effects of pathways Selecting preferred pathway Steering Committee X Reproting and Publication
Quality This is a process that should be carried out or at the least strongly headed by AdA as the responsible authority for planning water management in the province. This process allows them to underline their position in the center of water management in the Province. AdA is in the process of building sufficient capacity to successfully capture their role. Taking this in to consideration it is well possible that AdA needs external expertise to assist them in the elaboration of the water Plan. In that case, it is important that they find a partner in the process that can coach them in the process as well as guide them on the development of the content of the Water Plan. If AdA prefers to contract a consultant to write the Provincial Plan than that could be a missed opportunity in relation to knowledge exchange and on the job training. The external consultant could assist Ada on a continuous basis via email, skype, telephone, etc. and at certain moments intensive interaction can be organized when crucial decisions have to be taken. During these periods of intensive interaction training and knowledge exchange can be programmed as well.
For the proposed time schedule these interactions should be organized at the start, at the end of Month 2, at the end of Month 4, at the end of month 7and at the start of month 11 to assure that there is sufficient time for coaching available at the key decision moments during the process (start-up, objectives, process organization, developing pathways, and the preparation of the decision on the preferred pathway).
Budget For the participation of the external consultant a budget should be reserved between 150 - 250 k€(5 missions (8 tickets/ DSA), 70 days for consultants in Buenos Aires, 40 days preparation/reporting trips + outgoing mission of responsible officials at AdA). The amount strongly depends on the number of trips AdA asks the consultant to carry out and whether the budget should also allow for a visit to another country where there is a lot of experience with long term integrated planning and the development of water plans. If technical assistance is needed in filling the knowledge gaps additional funds will be needed.
Risks As this would be a very important step in the capacity building of the AdA it will be crucial to assure that Ada will have all necessary means to make this a successful endeavor. This
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initiative provides the Ada with a huge opportunity to position itself in the center of water management in the province but, at the same time, if the project does not deliver a broadly supported water plan it could weaken the position of AdA as well.
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ANNEX E – ROADMAP WATER GOVERNANCE
Apoyo para el fortalecimiento de AdA y/o nueva autoridad/comité de cuenca
Para mejorar la gobernanza del agua en la Provincia de Buenos Aires y en particular la gobernanza de la cuenca del Rio Salado, hace falta en primera instancia fortalecer los organismos actuales de modo que ellos sean capaces de efectuar los cambios necesarios para una gobernanza moderna del recurso hídrico en conjunto con los usuarios e interesados a corto, mediano y largo plazo.
Esta hoja de ruta propone algunas opciones para apoyar el fortalecimiento y profesionalización de la Autoridad del Agua y mejorar la gobernanza de la Cuenca Rio Salado. Algunas de las opciones se pueden combinar. La selección de una u otra opción está a cargo de las autoridades de la Provincia. Las opciones propuestas son:
1) Apoyo durante el diseño/ optimización del modelo de gobernanza
Transferencia de experiencia y conocimiento en base a talleres de trabajo con objetivos concretos de manera que la Provincia pueda tomar decisiones a corto y mediano plazo.
Un experto (puede variar por tema) los ayuda durante un taller a concretizar puntos claves para mejorar la gobernanza del agua en El Salado / Provincia de Buenos Aires. De ser necesario el taller es dirigido por dos personas (una se encarga del proceso y otra del contenido). Cada taller debe terminar con un producto concreto. No hace falta que sea perfecto (80%) pero debe marcar las pautas básicas para poder seguir adelante con los otros talleres.
Los talleres se pueden agrupar de modo de concentrarlos en 4 a 5 semanas seguidas, o 1 a 2 semanas por vez y dejar semanas intermedias para hacer “los deberes” (por ejemplo, buscar apoyo político para la idea dentro del ejecutivo y otros actores, elaborar las ideas, investigar las posibilidades jurídicas). Algunos se pueden llevar a cabo en paralelo.
El tiempo de preparación de los talleres y el tiempo necesario para hacer “los deberes” no está incluido en la duración de los talleres. El tiempo de preparación por parte de las personas que facilitan los talleres puede estimarse 1,5 a 2 veces el tiempo del taller, los participantes deberán hacer “deberes” antes y entre talleres. El tiempo a invertir por los participantes para hacer los “deberes” depende del tema del taller.
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Condiciones: los participantes de los talleres estratégicos 1, 2 y 3 deben contar con suficiente antena política y mandato para tomar decisiones (de exclusión) y presentar la propuesta final para aprobación/decisión del ejecutivo provincial.
Talleres estratégicos (7,5 días)
Nro. Contenido del taller Duración para los participantes (días de “deberes” excluidos) 1 a) Mapeo de análisis de intereses y posiciones de los 0,5 días diferentes actores públicos y privados involucrados en el tema de gestión de recursos hídricos y ambientales en la Provincia de Buenos Aires. b) Agrupar las diferentes tareas con una lógica que facilite una 1 día gobernanza integral, eficaz, eficiente y sustentable de los recursos.
2 Elaborar como garantizar fondos estructurales y financiación a 2 días medio y largo plazo. Diseño del modelo más adecuado para la cuenca del Salado y eventualmente otras cuencas de la provincia de Buenos Aires. 3 En base al resultado del taller 1, por grupo de tareas, diseñar 2 días del tipo de organización y su gobernanza teniendo en cuenta las posibilidades que brinda el resultado del taller 2 (fondos). 4 Marco jurídico institucional. Si fuera necesario cambiar la 1 + 1 días legislación provincial/ nacional vigente, identificar qué cambios deben realizarse y que cambios cuentan con suficiente apoyo político para realizarlos.
Talleres tácticos/ operativos (18,5 días)
Nro. Contenido del taller Duración para los participantes (días de “deberes” excluidos) 5 Diseño del inventario del recurso hídrico; uso del suelo en 1 día básico relación al recurso hídrico; planeamiento territorial. 1 día para redondear 6 Como elaborar un plan integral de recursos hídricos. 1 día básico Definición de los elementos básicos que debe contener el 1 día para redondear plan. Se trata de un plan “técnico” y factible (cuenta con análisis de costos y beneficios e impacto ambiental). Nota: El plan de gestion de la organización se trata en el taller 12. 7 Definir cómo “cuidar” el recurso: que se permite, que no y en 1,5 días qué medida (revisión/ ampliación del código del agua).
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8 Diseño sección/proceso de operación y mantenimiento, 2 días participación de terceros en estas tareas, control de cumplimiento de tareas. 9 Diseño/ optimización sección/ procesos de registro, 2 días otorgación de autorizaciones y permisos, monitoreo y control cumplimiento de permisos/ otras infracciones. 10 Evaluación /optimización procesos de diseño, construcción y 1 día control de obras 11 Diseño/ optimización rol y responsabilidades de la 2 días organización en el registro de datos hidrometeoro lógicos y predicciones a corto, mediano y largo plazo; anticipación y gestion del recurso en base a condiciones climáticas de largo plazo (El Nino / Nina). Comunicación de datos y predicciones. Cooperación con INA e INTA. 12 Gestion del riesgo hídrico. Rol y responsabilidades del AdA / 1 a 2 días autoridad de cuenca antes, durante y después de una calamidad hídrica (cantidad, calidad); cooperación con defensa civil y otros actores (por ejemplo con Dirección de control de riesgo) 13 Gestión y control de gestion del organismo. Diseño en detalle 2 días del ciclo Plan-Do-Check-Act. “Compliance”. Inventario de información necesaria por proceso y selección de indicadores de prestación (KPIs). 14 Diseño recaudación de fondos si fuera aplicable. 2 días
2) Apoyo durante el diseño e implementación (1 a 2 años)
Incluye los mismos componentes que la opción 1. En adición, los expertos involucrados en los talleres de diseño o nuevos expertos pueden apoyar a la AdA / nuevas instituciones en a) preparar un plan de implementación de las decisiones y recomendaciones surgidas de los talleres, b) seguimiento de la implementación y evaluación.
3) Cooperación a largo plazo (por ejemplo 4 años)
AdA podría considerar la cooperación a largo plazo con otra(s) autoridad(es) del agua / comités de cuenca que funcionen bien (dentro de Argentina o el exterior) de manera de intercambiar conocimiento y experiencia. AdA podría ejecutar la opción 1 apoyada por expertos independientes y/o colegas de la autoridad de agua hermana. Luego podrían usar la cooperación para capacitar el personal proprio en forma conjunta o mediante intercambio o pasantías (ver opción 4.2). Este tipo de cooperación permite intercambiar conocimientos a todos los niveles.
4) Capacitación
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Viaje a otro país con cuencas de características similares a las de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (Rio Salado) que se destaque en la gobernanza del agua (“autoridad/ cuenca hermana”): 1. Viaje de 4 días hábiles para funcionarios políticos / tomadores de decisiones/ directivos. Objetivo: intercambiar experiencias con funcionarios similares sobre temas institucionales y políticos (gobierno de la cuenca, participación, cooperación lateral y vertical), financieros (fondos) y política integral ambiental/recursos hídricos/cadena del agua. 2. Pasantía de 5 días hábiles para funcionarios ejecutores de la política hídrica en una autoridad del agua/ de cuenca “hermana” (o la cuenca hermana os visita para capacitarlos). Objetivo (depende de las tareas del funcionario): i) compartir experiencias sobre política y planeamiento integral de los recursos, ii) gestión de activos, operación y mantenimiento, iii) monitoreo, registro y validación permanente de datos, iv) permisos y control, v) operación de obras, sistemas y plantas, vi) como actuar antes y durante calamidades/ crisis hídricas. 3. Entrenamiento individual o a un grupo on-the-job o por medio de programas especializados3.
3 Ejemplos de instituciones holandesas especializadas en capacitacion de personal relacionado a la gestion del agua: Unesco-IHE para universitarios; Stichting Wateropleidingen (Fundacion Entrenamiento practico sobre Agua) para niveles basicos de ejecucion hasta terciaros; diversas carreras practicas y terciarias (todas en ingles, se puede dar en el pais en castellano).
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ANNEX F – ROADMAP MONITORING AND EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS Currently, with loans of multilateral banks the province is starting to implement early warning systems on river basin scales. We applaud this initiative as early warning systems have proven to be a very cost-effective measure to reduce vulnerabilities, and the ‘secondary’ effect of having more hydrological information about rivers and basins is fundamental for a sustainable river basin planning and management. It is important to consider that an early warning system provides warning before an extreme event, so adequate action can be taken to reduce its effects. See figure below with the different phases of such a system.
Some aspects need to be taken care of to assure the flood and drought early warning systems will be sustainable and successful. For the Province of Buenos Aires we believe that in particular the following aspects are relevant:
1. Development of technical capacities within the public institution responsible to operate and update the operational system (province?); this need to be formed by a team within the institution (or two: forecasting office and monitoring group). 2. Maintenance of the monitoring network is fundamental; if costs for maintenance are not guaranteed the performance of the early warning system will be at risk. Too often these costs are neglected when investments are made in new monitoring networks. Local availability of components and technical support for maintenance is important to be taken into account. 3. It is fundamental to make sure that flood (and drought) vulnerabilities effectively are reduced (and not only a data collection system is developed). The system should be evaluated based on the quality of the (flood/drought) warnings on which actions and responses are based; of course the quality of the monitoring network and how it adapts to the needs of the warning system are essential as well. 4. The system must be modular and open, take care of the integration of data, models and forecasts, which makes it possible to include already available knowledge (e.g. simulation models) but probably more important be able to adapt it to future needs and developments. Easy access to software and models by universities and knowledge institutions stimulates future innovations within the system. 5. A forecasting and early warning system is complex to implement and maintain, and consequently needs a minimum technical capacity with a team of hydrological experts. It is not feasible to create this technical capacity on the scale of the river basins within the province and should be developed on a provincial (or national) level.
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Based on these aspects, we recommend to develop a road map towards a provincial flood and drought early warning system. We suggest taking a stepwise approach, as both from an institutional as well as a technical point of view uncertainties exist that need to be clarified during the process to be able to define all details of the system. Developments and initiatives that are already underway need to be taken into account and may be adapted during their implementation. The following phases can be distinguished:
1. Definition technical design and institutional approach (2 – 3 months) 2. Pilot phase (12 – 18 months) 3. Detailed monitoring plan and plan for implementation phase (3 months) 4. Implementation phase (in different components) (2 years) 5. Maintenance and updates of monitoring network (yearly) The first phase consists of an inventory of all available data sources and simulation models on the provincial level, as well as current and past developments; identification of early warning needs and lead corresponding lead times, as well as the design of the system including the needs for additional hydrological and/or meteorological monitoring. This definition phase results in a plan for the pilot phase. The pilot phase results in the implementation of part of the system, based on available monitoring and simulation models for 2 or 3 pilot basins. Developments may (en probably will) include the development of simulation models where necessary. This phase strengthens capacities with courses and on the job training of relevant institutions, including the Province. This phase results in an operational forecasting system that runs on servers and is administrated by IT-experts, and used by hydrological forecasters for their daily bulletin. Draft protocols are developed for the coordination of warning and response with the main stakeholders. Based on the developments and results of the pilot phase, as well as a cost benefit analysis, a detailed monitoring plan for the province is developed, as well as a plan/project for the implementation of both the monitoring system as well as the early warning system on a provincial level. Capacity building It is essential that the institute that operates the forecasting system and the institute that maintains the hydro-meteorological network have sufficient capacities from different perspectives: ITers that administrate the system and resolve problem when they occur, forecasters that are responsible for the hydrological forecast, and hydrologists that are skilled to update and maintain the forecasting system, and the maintenance of the hydro- meteorological stations needs people in the field. Training, both through courses as by active participation during project development (on-the-job-training) is fundamental. Budget We provide here budget indications for the implementation of the provincial flood (and drought) early warning system; note that these are only indications and detailed proposal need to be made to verify the exact costs. In particular the costs of the implementation phase
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depend a lot on the first proposed phases and the ambition of the province; for improving the monitoring network the available budget for monitoring and maintenance after project implementation needs to be considered. The estimated budgets here do not include any costs from experts from the province or the cost of the monitoring and forecasting units to be created or strengthened. They do however include costs for technical assistance and equipment. Acquisition of radar is not considered due to lack of information on currently meteorological radars in Buenos Aires and high costs involved with their acquisition. The following table indicates estimated durations and budgets per component: Component Duration Estimated budget 1. Definition technical design 2 – 3 months USD 50.000 – 80.000 and institutional approach
2. Pilot phase 12 – 18 months USD 400.000 – 700.000 3. Detailed monitoring plan and 3 months USD 30.000 – 60.000 plan for implementation phase 4. Implementation phase: ( 2 years in total) (USD 2 – 15 million in total)
a. Monitoring 12 – 24 months USD 1 – 10 million
b. Forecasting system 18 – 30 months USD 1 – 4 million
c. Early warning 12 months USD 0.2 – 1 million communication and response tools and protocols 5. Maintenance and updates of Yearly recurring To be defined monitoring network
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ANNEX G – ROADMAP COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
Approach Economic Study This note gives a first indication of the need for and usefulness of the economic study, and outlines the activities and steps needed to carry out the analysis.
Introduction and Need Needs assessment:
An economic assessment of the costs and benefits of the works in the Río Salado is advisable for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the past and future investments in the Río Salado are substantial and require(d) a large contribution in public spending. Public money should be spent on investments which generate additional value to society. In economic terms, the benefits of an investment should outweigh the costs. Thus, first of all, an economic assessment will be helpful in justifying public spending.
Second of all, understanding the costs and benefits of past projects in the Río Salado basin can provide valuable insights for the future projects to come. By learning from past experience, the plans for the future projects can be optimized in order to improve the benefit- cost ratio, by maximizing benefits, decreasing costs or minimizing negative effects. Also, information regarding risk and duration of effects can help the optimization of plans for future investments.
Thirdly, it is important to understand the distribution of the effects: who are the main beneficiaries? By how much are they benefitting? Who is bearing the costs? And who is experiencing negative effects? All of these questions can help to determine if there is a need for a re-distribution, for example, through contributions or compensations.
To sum up, carrying out an economic assessment is not an objective in itself but serves the ultimate goal, which is to inform very important investment decisions in the Rio Salado and potentially contribute to the development of a long-term investment strategy for the river basin.
Current status
Currently, there is very little understanding of the costs and benefits of the investments in the Río Salado basin, of the economic impacts and opportunities:
It appears that little is known about the actual impact of the completed works from earlier phases on the economic development of the area. Neither are there studies available on how the new, proposed works upstream will influence both the area in the proximity of the works upstream or the areas more downstream.
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In addition, there is little knowledge of the long term effects and costs, and the necessary maintenance efforts to ensure the benefits in the long term.
Guiding questions:
To summarize, the following questions should to be answered in an economic study:
- What are the economic costs and benefits of the works that have already been implemented? - What are the future costs and benefits of the works to be started in the next phases of the project? - How can the economic value, especially the benefits, of both the completed works and the outstanding works be optimized? o What are the economic development opportunities for the area? o What is needed to realize and maximize these opportunities?
Objective and Outcome Objective of the study
The objective of the study is to support the (investment) decision making for the Rio Salado (1) by performing an ex-post evaluation of the costs and benefits of the past investments in the Río Salado and, partially building on this evaluation, (2) by assessing the economic impact of the future plans for the basin in an ex-ante cost benefit analysis.
Outcome
The outcome of the study should be a comprehensive set of information and tools for decision makers, including one or two reports (ex-post and ex-ante), summarizing the economic assessment, especially the results, sources, and assumptions. These report(s) should be accompanied by a user-friendly spreadsheet model, which is used during the analysis, calculating the results and for testing the robustness of the outcome in different scenarios.
While this describes the outcome in the form of ‘deliverables’, it needs to be emphasized that a large part of the outcome and benefit of the economic study will be the process and discussion themselves, and the conclusions and recommendations that come forth of it. This will inform decision makers, both on an individual project levels as well as with regard to an overall investment strategy.
Approach and Activities Ex-ante analysis of the costs and benefits
With regard to the ex-ante analysis of the costs and benefits of the future investments in the Río Salado upstream, it is suggested to follow the steps of a typical cost benefit analysis
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(CBA). The following figure depicts the steps of the CBA: there are eight steps grouped in three stages.
In the Definition stage, the scope of the CBA is determined, consisting of three steps:
Problem analysis Definition of project alternatives Identification of costs and benefits (in this step only qualitative)
After this stage, it should be clear what the scope of the analysis is, geographically, with regard to the time period, and the effects to be analyzed.
The second stage (Modeling) is devoted to the quantitative valuation of costs and benefits. For this purpose a CBA model is developed. The steps include:
Estimation of project costs Valuation of benefits and costs
After this stage, the economic model (spreadsheet, such as excel) should be ready, and all inputs and assumptions defined.
The third stage (Analysis) consists of the analysis and interpretation of the results of the CBA. This stage comprises three steps:
Calculation of the economic return Analysis of risks and uncertainties Distribution analysis
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This stage concludes the cost benefit analysis and ends with the reporting and presentation of the results, including sensitivity analyses and an assessment of the distribution of the costs and benefits.
Ex-post evaluation of the past investments
Evaluating the economic (and other) effects of the earlier works downstream can provide valuable information for the proposed works upstream. What benefits can be expected? What are the negative effects with regard to risk of water scarcity and the destruction of habitat? What are the lessons learned from the previous works for the planned works upstream – from an economic point of view but also from a legal, social or technical point of view? This ex-post evaluation can be structured in a similar process as the CBA. In defining the scope, it is important to understand what the situation would have been without the investment, and how the investments exactly have affected this situation. What are the direct changes and effects that can attributed to the project and measures? And what are the more indirect changes (both positive and negative) that the project has caused? Depending on the availability of data, a qualitative and quantitative analysis has to be carried out, and the results will be reported. Data gathering and assumptions
A variety of methods to gather data, define inputs and form assumptions will be used throughout the different steps. The following list provides a first overview of these methods:
- Desk study: Desk study will mainly be used to determine, quantify and monetize the effects. Examples of items to be gathered and analyzed are: damage reports, national and international best practices on quantifying effects, and existing economic studies - Interviews: Interviews with individual or multiple stakeholders and experts will be a crucial element in various steps of the analysis, for example, in determining the scope, in defining the alternatives, and especially in determining, quantifying and monetizing the effects. In addition, interviews can provide valuable input for the distribution analysis. Interview partners could include: economic and technical experts on a national and regional level; residents, farmers, business owners and other stakeholders in the river basin (up- and downstream); insurance companies; experts and stakeholders from regions with comparable experience; and, of course, relevant decision makers who will be benefitting from the outcome of the economic assessment - Workshops: At least three times during the assessment, workshops with participants from various backgrounds (compare suggested interview partners) will be advisable: (1) in defining the problem and the alternatives, (2) in determining, quantifying and monetizing the effects, and (3) in discussing and testing the results, including the distribution of the costs and benefits. A workshop with a diverse group of participants will lead to balanced results and critical discussions that will improve the overall analysis. Moreover, by participating actively in these crucial workshops, decision
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makers will be able to develop valuable insights in the course of the analysis, understand the reasoning and considerations behind the final results, and understand sensitivities and limitations of the outcome. - Mission: The economic study should not be exclusively prepared by an (international) team of external consultants. At the same time, given that there is little experience and knowledge available internally, it might be advisable to have international expertise (both economic and technical) in the assessment team. These consultants do not have to be present at all times but should be present during kick-off, the workshops, including the presentation and discussion of results.
Capacity building One objective throughout the whole economic assessment should be the continuous sharing of knowledge, tools, and best practices. The ultimate goal would be to equip the local experts with the knowledge and instruments, so that future economic studies can be performed with less external support. This includes not only future economic studies of investments in river basins. Carrying out economic assessments, especially for larger public investments should become a standard requirement and procedure, in order to improve transparency, help justification of public spending, and optimize projects.
Planning and Cost At this stage, only an indication of planning on potential costs can be provided as these are very dependent on the scope, client objective and requirements. The extent of the study could range from a very one dimensional analysis of the cost and benefits of the future works with a minor supporting role by external consultants as the minimum, to a full-fledged, comprehensive economic assessment of the past and future investments, with a strong role of external consultants leading to an investment strategy for the Río Salado and including constant capacity building for local staff.
- Minimal alternative: external consultants support high level economic tool, participate in some workshops a few months, ca. $30.000 - Medium alternative: external consultants are strongly involved and support development of long-term investment strategy for the Río Salado 6-12 months, ca. $100.000 - $200.000 - High alternative: comparable to the medium alternative, but including extensive capacity building 6-12 months, ca. $125.000 – $225.000
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