Water Supplies and Issues

in the Aconcagua Watershed

by
Robin Swank

Water Resources of Argentina and Chile

Norberto Ovando, vice president of the Friends of the National Parks of Argentina Association was
quoted in Valente, Marcela, “Argentina: Frustration Over Veto of Glacier Protection Law.” Inter Press
Service News Agency Nov. 28, 2009 as saying the following.

"For us, water is more valuable than gold and has no substitute"

This informational piece provides information about the water supplies and issues in the Aconcagua
watershed.

Introduction and Regional Setting

A consistent supply of clean and potable water is an important factor in the establishment of human
civilization and necessary for the continuation of life. Chile and Argentina are dependent on the Andes
mountains and the snow that falls within them for a significant portion of their water. River basins in
both Chile and Argentina originate along the high alpine spine that runs north to south along the west
central portion of the South American continent.

These rivers provide drinking water for the growing populations in Argentina and Chile as well as
irrigation for crops and livestock. Industrial growth is dependent on the availability of water. Relative to
other countries in the world only limited work has been done to study water resource issues but many
scientists as well as lay people are realizing the need to keep these waterways sustainable and more
importantly, potable.

Aconcagua Watershed(s)
For purposes of this informational piece it is expedient to discuss how the name Aconcagua fits into the
geographic area. Cerro Aconcagua, the mountain, is the highest point on the South American continent
and in the western hemisphere but also the highest mountain in the world outside of Asia. This
mountain is located about 10 km east of the South American continental divide and completely
contained within a watershed that ultimately drains through the province of Mendoza in Argentina and
into the Atlantic Ocean to the east Figure 1. The elevation of the summit of Aconcagua is 6,962 meters
(22,841 feet) above sea level as reported by Sulzer, W. and Kostka, R., 2006.

Rio Aconcagua, is a river completely contained within the boundary of the country of Chile. The
confluence (beginning) of this river occurs where the Blanco and the Juncal rivers merge, Ribbe and
Gaese 2002. This river is further completely contained within a basin that drains westward to the Pacific
Ocean Figure 1. No glacial melt water from the mountain flows into the river that bears the same name.

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Ribbe and Gaese 2002 describe Rio
Aconcagua as extending 140 km from east
to west and 70 km from north to south for a
total length of 214 km. At its origin the
river has a very steep slope, high sediment
loads owing to high rates of erosion due to
a lack of vegetation at high elevations. Rio
Aconcagua becomes a lower angle more
meandering river as it makes its way to the
Pacific Ocean. The total population within
the watershed containing Rio Aconcagua is
485,614 human souls.

Simplified Watershed
Description
The area in question is the central and
southern part of the South American
continent encompassing Argentina and
Chile. A central corridor of very high
mountains form a continental divide which
as the term implies, divides the water flow
into that which flows eastward into the
Atlantic Ocean and that which flows
westward into the Pacific Ocean Figure 2.
Figure 1: Location map showing Cerro Aconcagua and Rio
Aconcagua. Copied from Corripio, Javier G.,Purves, Ross S.,
and Andrés Rivera, 2007..

Figure 2.The red line represents the continental divide that creates 2 separate watersheds.
The red triangle is the location of Cerro Aconcagua. Copied from Sulzer, Wulfgang and Kostka, Robert 2006.

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The water begins its residence time in the watershed as snow falling in the high alpine environment.
The ultimate source of the moisture for this snow is the Pacific Ocean. Warm ocean breezes from the
west blow toward the east and come up against the Andean Corridor. Warm air becomes colder and
contracts as it gains elevation inhibiting its ability to carry moisture. Rain occurs as the air sheds it
moisture and then snow as elevation increases, pressure decreases and temperatures drop.

Snow falls on mountains and through its accumulation and under its own weight it is compacted into
glacial ice. This glacial ice flows very slowly down the mountain. As it flows downward friction at its base
causes melting of the glacial ice which also due to forces of gravity flows down hill in the form of steeply
dipping braided streams. Numerous braided streams come together to make larger more meandering
streams and eventually fewer large meandering rivers as they arrive at the relatively flat coastal plains
before proceeding down slope to drain into the ocean.

Pollution of Cerro Aconcagua Glaciers and Snowpack

As the economies in Argentina and Chile turn to more industrial i.e. fossil fuel consumptive processes,
more pollution is released into the atmosphere and is taken up in the glacial ice and snowfields on
mountains like Aconcagua. In an online article titled “White, but not pure: Aconcagua Mountain's
snowy peaks polluted with PCBs” produced by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
2009, authors state that snow on Aconcagua is polluted by Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). Figure 3
shows one of the glaciers on Aconcagua as well as the surrounding glaciated landscape of wide U-
shaped valleys with steeply cut sides. To quote the article: “Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are among
the 'dirty dozen' persistent
organic pollutants banned
worldwide under the
Stockholm Convention. As
well as causing chronic
effects like acne, hair loss
and liver damage, PCBs
are also a suspected cause
of male infertility. The
toxin represents a danger
to a large number of
animals because it
accumulates in fatty tissue Figure 3. The ascent of a German expedition over the so-called pole glacier to the
Aconcagua. (Photo Credit: Luis Stitzingerwww.dav-summit-club.de). Taken from
and is passed on via the “White, but not pure: Aconcagua Mountain's snowy peaks polluted with PCBs.” By
food chain.” Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres..

Mountaineers climbing Aconcagua can take some comfort from the statement made herein that the
concentrations measured on the mountain to date do not represent any immediate danger to those
who melt snow to obtain water. It is notable that compared with the values measured in other
mountain and polar regions, the concentrations on the mountain peak in the Andes are relatively low.
Concentrations four times higher have been measured in the Italian Alps, for instance – an indication
that pollution in the southern hemisphere is less severe than in the northern hemisphere 2009
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.

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One final quote from this on line posting sums up the urgent need to take action on climate change
based on these findings. "The shrinking of the glaciers could lead to the pollutants stored in the glacier
snow being carried down with the melt water," fears Roberto Quiroz. South America is not the only part
of the world in which water from melting glaciers plays an important role in irrigation for farming and as
a source of drinking water.”

To further outline the seriousness of the global warming problem, international news sources such as
National Public Radio (NPR) have been airing stories in which global warming is outlined as a threat to
the security of nations. As glaciers melt due to warming atmospheric conditions, farmland downstream
is initially awash in a plentiful water supply. But then glaciers and ice fields melt away to nothing,
drought sets in. Drought causes populations to move in search of resources and wars are fought to
obtain access to a shrinking food supply. This story was reported by NPR newsman Tom Gjelten under
the story line “Pentagon, CIA Eye New Threat: Climate Change” on NPR’s Morning Addition on
December 14, 2009.

Public Policy for Water Supply Protection

On November 28, 2007 the IPS reported a story concerning the Argentinean president vetoing a law that
would have protected glaciers as an important reserve of freshwater. It is noticeable that policymakers
in Argentina have recognized the need to preserve glacial fresh water, but the interests of business have
not been easily set aside. The bill would have established basic standards aimed at preserving them as
strategic reserves of hydric resources and water supplies and also prohibited activities that would affect
the function of the glaciers as water supplies, and that would hurt the periglacial environment, defined
in the text as the high mountain areas "with frozen soils that act as a regulator of water resources.

Among the activities banned in those areas were mining or petroleum exploration and exploitation,
construction of buildings or infrastructure, and the release of polluting substances, chemical products or
any type of waste.

To quote from the article "We worked closely with the legislators to get this law passed," said a
disappointed Ricardo Villalba, geoscientist and director of the Argentine government's institute for snow
and glacier research, IANIGLA. "It's difficult to understand what happened. The scientific community
doesn't want to slow economic development, but rather preserve freshwater sources in a region where
the provinces rely on those reserves for consumption and irrigation," Villalba, a member of the 2007
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Tierramérica.

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References:

_______, ______, Posted On: December 7, 2009 - 4:30pm. “White, but not pure: Aconcagua Mountain's snowy peaks polluted
with PCBs”. By Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.

Corripio, J, R. Purves and A. Rivera 2007. Modeling climate-change impacts on mountain glaciers and water resources in the
Central Dry Andes In: Orlove, B., Wiegandt, E. & Luckman, B. (Eds.). Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science and Society,
University of California Press, USA, p. 126-135.

Gjelten, Tom. December 14, 2009. “Pentagon, CIA Eye New Threat: Climate Change” on Morning Addition National Public Radio
News.

Ribbe, L., and H. Gaese. 2002. Water management issues of the Aconcagua watershed, Chile. Technology Resource
Management and Development: Water Management 2:86–108.

Sulzer, W. and Kostka, R., 2006: Mt. Aconcagua – A challenge for Remote Sensing mapping activities in the Andes. In: D.
Pertovič (Ed.), Proceedings of the 5th Mountain Cartography Workshop (International Cartographic Association – ICA,
Commission of Mountain Cartography) in Bohinj (30th March – 1st April 2006), Slovenia, Ljubljana, 229-235.

Valente, Marcela, “Argentina: Frustration Over Veto of Glacier Protection Law.” Inter Press Service News Agency Nov. 28, 2009.
(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a
specialized news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations
Environment Programme and the World Bank.) (END/2008) The Altitude Experience, Mike Farris/2008 see
thealtitudeexperience.com/blog/