generally viewed as unacceptable because per capita income in the country is the highest in latin america. while argentina has achieved very high levels of access to an improved water source in urban areas (98%), access in rural areas remains relatively low for a country of argentina's level of development (80% using a broad definition, 45% for house connections) in general, rural citizens receive deficient service compared to poorer countries. circumstances are exacerbated by irrational consumption and waste in most of argentina's systems. much of the waste is caused in large part by inadequate fees that do not accurately represent the value of water. the most evident indicator of over-consumption and waste is the average municipal use of nearly 500 liters/person/day or about 182 m3 per year ranking argentina near the top, along with costa rica, of municipal water use in latin america. total water use including industrial, agriculture, and municipal is 774 m3 per person or about 4% of total annual renewable water resources on a per capita basis. urban (90% ofthe population) rural (10% ofthe population) total water broad definition 98% 80% 96% house connections 83% 45% 79% sanitation broad definition 92% 83% 91% sewerage 48% 5% 44% source: joint monitoring program who/unicef(jmp/2006). irrigation argentina has a long history with irrigation needs and usage. in 1909, the national government enacted the national law of irrigation number 6546 that prompted the creation of a large number of hydraulic works projects and the creation of new irrigation systems throughout argentina. decades later, the introduction of pumping equipment on the national market in the 1950s spurned changes in the irrigation landscape. advances in irrigation equipment led to an increase in irrigated surface area while ushering in a systematization of farming procedures such as; i) application of water, ii) preparation of land and soil, iii) gained efficiencies, iv) diversification of crops, v) and the introduction of spraying and localized irrigation techniques. this was all mostly due to the higher cost of water and the need to recover investments made by crop production while seeking higher profitability. the evolution of irrigation in argentina has been discontinuous over recent decades. according to data compiled by the national directorate of water resources in argentina, estimated total coverage in 1970 was about 1 million ha and only increased to approximately 1.2 million by 1988, and then up again to 2.1 million by 1995. this figure for irrigated surface area in 1995 represented almost 8% of the total cultivated area in the country. actual potential for irrigated land is much higher at around 6.1 million ha if soil qualities and water resources are taken into account. around 44% of the potential irrigated land is located in arid regions and 56% in located in more humid areas of the country. water resources are the limiting factor in scaled development in the irrigation sector in argentina. it has been estimated that as much as 95 million ha in argentina have good soil but not enough water. stormwater drainage one of the most important sector-related issues affecting argentina is the high cost related to the recurring flooding of highly urbanized and important metropolitan areas throughout the country. the magnitude of these flood-incurred costs ranks argentina 1st in latin america and 14th worldwide. although flooding affects the entire country, flood and drainage concerns are more prevalent in four main geographic regions: i) buenos aires and the surrounding municipalities because its high level of urbanization (12.6 million inhabitants or 42% of total population), its economic importance, and its location on a flat and low-lying area; ii) urban centers within the parana basin, a subtropical region with high annual rainfalls that often coincide with high river elevations; iii) andes foothill provinces (cuyo and northwestern provinces) with their intense, short-lived rains and rapid snowmelts that produce flashfloods; iv) rainfalls of high intensity over limited area that are responsible for floods in patagonia and the southern provinces. hydropower the yacyretá hydroelectric facility on the parana river. theoretically, hydroelectricity potential in argentina has been estimated at 169,000 gwh per year while the feasible potential is closer to 130,000 gwh per year. total installed hydro capacity is around 10,000 mw across 35 locations throughout the country. the average annual power generation in argentina is 32,000 gwh per year representing about 25% of the feasible potential. large bi-national hydro projects such as the yacyretá and the salto grande substantially increase argentina's total power generation. during the early 1990s, argentina began a thorough reform of its public sector, which included the restructuring and privatization of the electricity sector. hydropower plants were no exception as the primary hydroelectric plants were grouped into "business units". these units are national concessions with one to three power plants in each group. notable exceptions to the privatization scheme because they are bi-national are again the yacyretá and the salto grande power plants. additionally, there were at least six hydroelectric power plants as of 2005 in the planning stages with a total power generation capacity of approximately 10,000 ghw per year. list of dams in argentina dam basin storage capacity principal function installed generation capacity (if hydroelectric) year of inauguration alicurá dam chubut 3.3 bcm hydroelectricity 1000 mw 1985 arroyito dam chubut 0.3 bcm hydroelectricity 120 mw 1979 el carrizal dam desaguadero 237 million m3 regulate flow 17 mw 1971 planicie banderita hydroelectric power plant cerros colorados hydroelectricity 596 mw 1978 el chocón dam chubut 20.15 bcm regulate flow, irrigation, hydroelectricity 1,200 mw 1973 el cajón dam 8 million m3 regulate flow 1993 ingeniero ballester dam chubut regulate flow, irrigation los molinos dam 399 million m3 regulate flow, hydroelectricity 148 mw 1953 los quiroga dam hydroelectricity 1956 pichi picún leufú dam chubut 197 million m3 regulate flow, hydroelectricity 261mw 2000 piedra del águila dam chubut 11.2 bcm regulate flow, hydroelectricity 1993 ullum dam 440 million m3 regulate flow, irrigation, hydroelectricity 41 mw los reyunos dam hydroelectricity salto grande dam hydroelectricity 1,890 mw 1979 yacyretá dam la plata hydroelectricity 4,050 mw 1993 legal and institutional framework a map of argentina legal framework argentina's federal structure is based on the duties assigned in article 121 of the national constitution. according to article 121, the provinces hold power not already delegated to the federal government by this constitution. the 1994 constitutional reform added article 124 of the charter and expressly stated that "provinces have original ownership of natural resources existing in their territory." the national congress has the authority, through the civil code, to establish the following essential principles regarding the legal condition of waters: i) public ownership of surface and ground water as stated in article 2340); and ii) the principle of special concession for water use as stated in articles 2341, 2342, and 2642. in addition to the civil code, argentine water law includes commercial law, mining codes, federal laws on energy, navigation, transportation, ports system, jurisdiction over argentine waters, interprovincial commerce, and toxic waste regulation. all of these regulations directly or indirectly contain provisions regarding water resources. the electricity regulatory framework law (n°24,065/92) created the national electricity regulatory commission (enre) as an independent body that works within the scope of the secretariat of state for energy. enre was commissioned through decree 570 in 1996 by the secretariat of state for energy to administer hydroelectric concession contracts. institutional framework various actions and measures have been developed in the country to institutionalize policy preparation and water resources administration at the national level. one of these was the creation in 1991 of the secretariat of natural resources and environment, whose name later changed in 1996 to the secretariat of natural resources and sustainable development, overseen by the office of the president. the under-secretariat of water resources oversees the national bureau of water policy, which is in charge of planning and executing national water policy, supervising compliance and coordinating plans, programs and projects related to water resources, and the national bureau of water resources administration, which is essentially responsible for proposing and executing policies, programs and projects related to public water works. ina (el instituto nacional del agua (ina)) is the national institute for water and the environment, whose objective is to meet the requirements of studying, researching, developing and providing specialized services in the field of water and environmental development, control and preservation, aimed at implementing and developing a national environmental policy. ina continues the tasks begun in 1973 by the national institute of water science and technology (incyth), whose functions and powers have been expanded, incorporating environmental variables into the water resources study. aysa (agua y saneamiento argentinos s.a.) is the national water and sanitation utility of argentina and works with acumar on implementation of water projects within their concessions of buenos aires. sayds (secretaría de ambiente y desarrollo sostenible) is the secretariat of the environment and sustainable development. international agreements with chile in 1991, an environmental treaty between chile and argentina was signed and within the treaty there is a "protocolo de acuerdo" or framework agreement regarding shared water resources between the two countries. the framework agreement seeks to regulate the 'non-transfer" of pollution through waterways (rivers, aquifers, lakes, pipes) from one country to the other. this agreement, while it has not yet become effective is still considered by the fao to be a global framework on negotiating this kind of agreement. in may 2009, representatives from argentina and chile met to formalize a request to their respective ministers of foreign affairs. the request asks that the objectives of the 1991 protocol of shared water resources be complied with. objectives in article i of the protocol state, "the parties shall agree that the actions and programs concerning the use of shared water resources be undertaken under the concept of integrated management of the watersheds." la plata river basin is shared by argentina, uruguay, brazil, and paraguay have a framework for the sustainable management of its water resources with respect to the hydrological effects of climatic variability and change. the "freplata" project implemented between the countries aims to ensure the sustainable management of the exceptional biota of the la plata river and its waterfronts with argentina and uruguay. another component of this is the guaraní aquifer system project which promotes the protection of one of the largest semi-confined aquifers in the world that is shared amongst argentina, brazil, paraguay and uruguay. the guarani aquifer is shared also between argentina, uruguay, brazil, and paraguay and constitutes one of the largest reservoirs of groundwater in the world. current water storage is approximately 37.000 km3 and the aquifer has a natural recharge of 166 km3 per year. the environmental protection and sustainable development of the guarani aquifer system project was developed to support the four countries to elaborate and implement a shared institutional, legal and technical framework to preserve and manage the guarani aquifer and was executed between 2003 and 2007. total project cost is us $26.7 million. the general secretariat executed the project components in coordination with the four national agencies charged with executing the components. external support was provided by the global environment facility (gef), the world bank (wb), the organization of american states (oas), the netherlands and german governments and the international atomic energy agency. multi-lateral external assistance the world bank: the world bank is engaged with the government of argentina (goa) in a us$840 million multi-phase project with the following objectives (i) improve sewerage services in the mr river basin and other parts of the province and city of buenos aires by expanding transport and treatment capacity; (ii) support a reduction of industrial discharges to the mr river, through the provision of industrial conversion grants to small and medium enterprises; (iii) promote improved decision-making for environmentally sustainable land use and drainage planning, and to pilot urban drainage and land use investments, in the m-r river basin; and (iv) strengthen acumar's institutional framework for ongoing and sustainable clean-up of the mr river basin. the world bank's urban flood prevention and drainage project will help reduce the vulnerability of argentina to flooding, through a mix of structural and non-structural measures. the project consists of the following components: component 1) aims at providing provincial institutions with flood risk management instruments that can assist with the implementation of specific institutional development activities. component 2) will provide housing in safe areas for those families that may be resettled from