NOR DELTA GATED COMMUNITY |
LUXURY HOMES BLOCK UP RIVER DELTA NEAR BA - CAUSE FOR FLOODS?
flooded Buenos Aires after torrential rainfalls |
AN INCREASE IN REAL ESTATE PROJECTS
MAY PARTLY EXPLAIN FLOODS IN THE CITY
by Marcela
Valente via IPS
Gated residential communities on the
Paraná Delta have sprawled out of control in recent years, and are plugging up
the local ecosystem and preventing the natural runoff of water that cushions
the impact of floods in a vast area near the ARGENTINE capital.
The problem was particularly
highlighted after the tragic flooding in early April in the city of Buenos
Aires, and especially in La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires,
where torrential rains caused the death of almost 60 people.
LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND FAR SIGHT AS WELL AS CONTINGENCY
PLANS ARE PART OF THE CAUSE FOR INCREASED FLOODING IN BUENOS AIRES
The real estate construction boom,
the lack of infrastructure such as storm drains to cope with increasingly
frequent and heavy rains, and the lack of contingency plans in response to
disasters are now at the centre of debate in Argentina.
The Paraná river delta is an immense
wetland covering 17,500 square kilometres in the lower course of the nearly
5,000-kilometre-long Paraná river, which divides into a labyrinth of smaller
branches before flowing into the River Plate estuary.
Traditional houses on the islands of
the delta are built on stilts, have wooden jetties and are surrounded by reed
beds. They coexist harmoniously with an ecosystem that is prepared periodically
to receive large amounts of floodwater.
229 HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS OF DIFFERENT SIZES HAVE BEEN BUILT
ON THE FLOODPLAINS OF THE DELTA IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS ONLY...........
It is an area of high biodiversity
which also provides many environmental services. The most outstanding are
provision of water and the capacity to regulate the river’s floods, which are
becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change caused by global
warming.
In recent years, however, 229
housing developments of different sizes have been built on the floodplains of
the delta, most of them with luxury homes, golf courses, tennis courts,
shopping centres, schools and horse-riding centres.
TOWN PLANNERS SAID THAT ABOUT 90 PERCENT OF THESE
DEVELOPMENTS WERE BUILT ON FLOODPLAINS SUBJECT TO OVERFLOW FROM RIVERS AND
STREAMS, and 10 percent on silt islands
that were artificially levelled or filled in to support the residential
complexes.
Daniel Blanco, the head of Fundación
Humedales (Wetlands Foundation), said that the building expansion was “very
aggressive.” Now the area is at risk of losing its natural capacity to absorb
water, just as storms are becoming more intense.
Experts with the NGO, which works
for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, say that under the false
pretext that the land is unproductive, real estate projects went ahead with
levelling, draining and diverting water courses, affecting the natural
functions of the wetland.
“They are trying to convert the
place into a dryland system,” complain the authors of “Bienes y servicios
ecosistémicos de los humedales del Delta del Paraná” (Ecosystem Goods and
Services in the Paraná Delta Wetlands), a study that warns of the risk of
flooding in adjacent areas.
The study, by Patricia Kandus,
Natalia Morandeira and Facundo Schivo of Fundación Humedales, indicates that
the delta ecosystem does not prevent flooding, but cushions the rise of the
river level, retains part of the volume, filters the water and releases it
slowly thanks to its plant cover which acts like a sponge.
PROJECTS SUCH AS COLONY PARK (GATED COMMUNITY) HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO A HALT
Colony Park project |
Warnings from environmentalists and
local residents, added to the severe impact of heavy rains in the Buenos Aires
metropolitan area, managed to block some investment projects, and have led to
progress in regulating new building on the islands.
One of the projects brought to a
halt is Colony Park, which promised “a private island of peace and tranquillity”
on 300 hectares of the Delta del Tigre, the lowest-lying section of the
wetlands, in the northeast of the province of Buenos Aires. According to its
promotional advertising, the building of 1,000 “luxury” dwellings was planned.
Due to the controversy generated by
the project, as well as a lawsuit brought by residents, in 2012 the
municipality of Tigre with the help and expertise of environmental
organizations drew up stricter planning regulations for building on the islands
in that district.
Acknowledging the fragility of the
delta ecosystem, the new regulations require buildings to be constructed on
stilts, forbid the alteration of the natural elevation of the islands — which
usually grow by accumulating sediment — and ban artificial filling-in of the centre
of the islands.
The islands of the delta are
normally bowl-shaped, with a hollow in the centre that contributes to retaining
excess floodwater. But these hollows were being filled in to raise the
elevation and avoid flooding the building site.
In Campana, another municipality of
the province of Buenos Aires, a local association, Vecinos del Humedal, got a
temporary stay against a residential development planned for 40,000 people on
the Luján river, one of the delta tributaries.
PARANÁ RIVER ROSE TO NEARLY FIVE METERS, CREATING SEVERE
FLOODING
Alejandro Fernández, a member of the
association, said that local people got together to resist the project in their
area, where several gated communities are already causing flooding in the
surrounding areas.
In late October a heavy storm caused
the level of the Paraná river to rise by nearly five metres, creating severe
flooding not only along the riverside but also in the centre of the city of
Luján, where the floodwater reached the basilica, an international tourist
attraction.
“All along the Luján river, the
building of private complexes has been allowed on the floodplains that alter
the natural ebb and flow of the river. If they cap a virtually flat area with
cement, they create a serious problem,” Fernández said.
“Then when the floods come,
political leaders clutch their heads, but they were the ones who signed off on
the permits for those real estate projects without proper urban planning,” he
said.
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