Letters from readers: World Water Day

March 22 was World Water Day. It was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations, by Resolution A/RES/47/193. In it, it was established that March 22 of each year be dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of this valuable resource. In Tucumán, remembering and celebrating Water Day is ironic and even pathetic. It is enough to walk the banks of the Salí River or some of its tributaries and observe that there are: discharges of industrial effluents of all kinds; sewage waste; urban solid waste (MSW); nauseating smells, etc., to conclude that we have nothing to celebrate and that much needs to be improved. The consequences derived from all this are: physical and chemical alteration of the water; negative affectation of biodiversity, flora and fauna; from the landscape; of the riverside populations; and it also impacts on the biochemical and chemical oxygen demands (BOD and COD). Conclusion: the river carries water that is not suitable for any use. This water also affects the lake of the Río Hondo reservoir, since it contaminates it, favors its clogging, eutrophication and harms tourism and aquatic ecosystems. To this we must add that the lack of a State policy, plans and programs to manage the basin, has favored soil erosion, periodic flooding, and the disappearance of riverside forests. Today the Salí – Dulce basin is the second in levels of contamination in Argentina. The lack of interest of the provincial Executive Branch, in relation to water contamination, is evident when it is observed that it never participated as a complainant or plaintiff in the trials that are heard in the courts of our province or at the federal level (it left the citizens left to their own devices). Of the sewage spills that ravage the capital city and the lack of drinking water, better not to mention. It is known that maintaining and promoting vegetation in the foothills favors the retention and regulation of the waters of the Salí – Dulce basin, but it seems that those who govern Tucumán do not know this, or do not care. Why will it be?