AREAS DE RESERVA: SOLUCION ALTERNATIVA A LA CONTAMINACION DE LAS AGUAS SUBTERRANEAS EN AREAS URBANAS

The threat of certain water-transmitted diseases shows the importance of having safe water for human consumption. In Argentina, lots of communities have no access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. This lack leads people to use ground waters, which frequently, and due to their own activities, are being deteriorated. A neighbourhood of Santa Fe city, in the Argentine Republic, was chosen as a study case. Its environmental and socio-economic features are similar to those of others peripheral settlements, in different parts of the country. After the diagnosis stage -which it is fundamentally based on the study of the geological, hydrogeological and hydrochemical characteristics of the physical environmenta solution proposal is presented. It has the purpose of optimizing the necessary mechanisms so these inhabitants could urgently achieve a better quality of life, starting from a basic and vital element such as water, and taking the maximum advantage of the own resources of the outskirts. The management strategies involve four main aspects: education, sanitation, planning and environmental policy. The “Agua para todos” program carried out by the Municipality of Santa Fe, presents some coincidence with this proposal.