Justice embargoed Kicillof's administration for contaminating the Rio de la Plata

The Federal Justice ordered the seizure of more than $157 billion to the governorate of the province of Buenos Aires due to serious levels of pollution in the water system that connects the Santiago River, the El Gato stream and the Rio de la Plata. The decision was taken by federal judge Alberto Recondo, who considered that the environmental damage detected is extremely serious and requires urgent measures for its remediation

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The embargo amounts to $157,164,287,201 and will remain in effect until the province moves forward with sanitation works aimed at curbing the discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluents in the capital region of Buenos Aires. The judicial measure aims to force the execution of a project aimed at the treatment and final disposal of sewage liquids generated in La Plata,

Berisso and Ensenada.

The technical reports included in the file describe an alarming situation. According to surveys carried out by specialists from the Faculty of Engineering of the National University of La Plata, the water system has a degree of pollution considered “aberrant”. The studies detected large volumes of sewage and urban waste that transformed watercourses into true waste receivers

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The analysis of the samples revealed that the sewage supply is massive at different points of the El Gato stream, especially in discharges from urban areas of La Plata. Secondary sources of pollution were also identified in other streams in the region, such as the Saladero in Berisso and the Canal Oeste and Doña Flora in Ensenada, linked to both

urban discharges and industrial activity.

In his decision, the magistrate also emphasized that the problem is not recent. According to the court ruling, the failure of the provincial State to implement an adequate health and environmental policy has been going on for more than twenty years, which exceeds the current administration and reflects a structural problem in the management of the region's sewage and environmental system

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The province's budgetary difficulties cannot be used as an excuse to justify non-compliance with basic environmental obligations. According to the file, the works needed to prevent environmental damage represented only 0.67% of the provincial budget when they were originally projected

in 2022.