The urbanization of coastal wetlands in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

Different coastal wetlands of Buenos Aires Province (Argentina) were already urbanised notwithstanding initiatives for a National Law declaring them as natural reserves subject to conservation. Coastal urban sprawls either at the Parana Delta or at coastal barriers demanded the drainage of these wetlands. At the delta, several isolated neighbourhoods were constructed, some of them without authorisation. The lottery proposed along the marshes of the Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon was forbidden in the past due to the floods of 1980 (Country Costa del Sol). Today, a new initiative (Lagos de Mar) has been temporarily cancelled within a trial that lasted several years. The Alfar neighbourhood was conceived during the middle of the XX century occupying another wetland (Corrientes lagoon) that was overfilled with sand dredged from the coastal dunes. The Reta coastal lagoon is becoming progressively flooded due to channels dredged at the watershed (Los Gauchos creek). Today, the neighbourhood Balneario Reta is growing at the flooding surroundings of this lagoon that receives marine water in occasion of episodic storms or exceptional high tides. Some of these villages are frequently flooded and these processes will be worse considering forecasted climatic trends.