wastewater discharge standards in latin america wastewater discharge standards in latin america wastewater discharge standards protect water sources from pollution and mismanagement. each country in latin america has its own set of standards, and these vary according to types of water use, agricultural, industrial or recreational use. water quality is maintained by controlling the physicochemical and bacteriological parameters. the majority of water laws include fines for noncompliance. in many cases fines are inadequate and do not stop offending. in other cases the standards are lax and monitoring is sub-par. requirements of wastewater sewer discharge in latin america this article summarizes the majority of wastewater discharge standards in latin america, complemented with a country ranking considering the quantity and severity of their regulations. also, a comparative analysis of relevant standards is made, and a real case description for each country when the regulation was not accomplished. chile in chile, the ministry of publics works developed the standard, the decrete number 609, approved on may 7, 1998. this norm was created with the aim to control the effluents discharged into the sewer system. this norm establishes the maximum discharge concentration in sewer systems and also the different parameters that will be monitored, depending on the economic activity developed by each industry. it also establishes the methods that must be used for taking samples of each parameter. the control of the norm is responsibility of the company that provides the service of recollection of wastewater, being the regulator of sanitary services companies the main responsible. if a company produces disruption in the service, in terms of quality or quantity of the recollection, the companies of recollection of wastewater could suspend the service to that company. case description in may 2009 aguas andinas, controlled by the spanish enterprise agbar, will pay a fine because of a lawsuit presented against it by a group of neighbors because of the foul smells coming from the "la farfana", a waste water treatment plant. this is one of the waste water recycling plants of aguas andinas. the bad odors caused digestive and psychological problems. the organization announced that it will appeal this judgement, based on the argument that it was due to a couple of precise episodes beyond its control that did not cause any environmental or personal harm. in june 2007, the sanitary services superintendent's office (siss) started a lawsuit against the paper company licancel after "not complying with the 90 supreme decrete, that regulates waste water disposal". as the superintendent's office said, this decision is based on the investigation been forwarded that confirmed that this organization discharged its waste water without complying with the norm. as legislation establishes this office can propose and apply the corresponding sanctions, such as fines between one and a thousand annual tributary units (uta). this means around 392 million pesos. bolivia the norm for discharge is under the law 1333, approved on april 27, 1992. this law is the general law of environment, and for the specific case was created a regulation for water pollution. this regulation is applied to every entity that produces contamination in the water. in the case of the discharge over sewer systems the regulation is under chapter iv. it is stated that every company must agree with the company that provides the service of recollection of wastewater and the limits of discharge. the limits presented in this article, are those for new companies and for companies in process of identification of the type of body water that the company will discharge. case description in august 2003, all the mining producers working in the city of potosí must discharge their waste waters to a specific dike; otherwise they will be obliged to stop their operations. this statement, made by the director of environment and sustainable development, limbert paredes, who pointed out that this agreement was taken between the mining engineers association of potosí, law representatives and authorities of potosí county. these companies installed in the upper side of the city must build a pipeline to discharge their waste water by the end of june 2003, which was not done. because of this, a new meeting was held and a new deadline was given, august 9. in february 2009, the neighbors of the "mercado walter khon" have demanded attention from local authorities because streets were flooded with waste water coming out from the sewers. because of this social pressure, the city council made the maintenance and cleaning of the sewers close by the area where waters arose. besides some maintenance facts that helped in the flooding, the city council does not restore the s-2 pumping station. therefore, the wastewater is not properly pumped into the treatment plant. according to the city's responsible, marcelo vidal, because of the constant rain added to garbage and plastic bags, the sewer system is not working properly. even though he pointed that the main problem's origin is in the pumping station, the situation has not been solved up to date. peru in peru, the norm has only few parameters with limits. these parameters are: temperature (35 °c (95 °f)), fats and oil (100 mg/lt), ph (5 – 8.5), bod (1000 mg/lt) and settleable solids. however a more comprehensive norm was developed by the ministry of housing, which now is under review and analysis of the ministry of the environment. in the present article, the values presented are the ones under approval. this new regulation was developed because of the damage that industrial wastewater is causing to the sewer system. for example, in year 2006 a study showed that 58% of the sample (24 companies) surpassed the limit of bod5 established in the current norm. in the same year other study showed that 57% of the sample (9 companies) surpassed the same norm. case description in 2010, water quality was one of the main problems of peru. only 25% of the domestic water is treated, and the rest of it is thrown into rivers and lakes. this is why a series of measures have been addressed by government. in april 2010, the "national authority of water" will implement different laboratories in order to determine the pollution degree of wastewater from industries. penalties of up to 36 million soles have been announced for companies that do not treat their residual water. brazil in brazil, the parameters presented correspond to the federal district. the regulation of the parameters is under the decree n°18.328 of june 8, 1997. in the norm is established the maximum limit for industrial effluents in the federal district. also it's stated the fines applied in the case the companies surpass the norm. also the decree indicates the type of industry and the types of parameters, that each of them must control. ecuador the norm that regulates the limits of discharge in ecuador, is under the general law of environmental management, and was created with the aim of regulate the discharge over sewer systems, criteria of water quality for several uses and the procedures for measuring the parameters on the water. also the norm establishes that companies must keep a record of the generated effluents with the main operational data related to the effluents. case description in december 2009, the environment ministry fined on november 25, five companies of manta and montecristi with us$43,600 after the failure to execute the environmental policy. these companies: seafman c.a., treatment plant irotop s.a., la fabril s.a., eurofish s.a., y gondi s.a. have to pay immediately. the results of laboratory samples proved that levels of different substances were over the limits that were established in the environment quality and waste water regulations. an action plan has been implemented to avoid the surpass of the limits. in december 2007, in "manglares" of "el salvado", the fauna and flora which are extremely varied are being affected by households and companies, because of loads coming from thermal power plants. such discharges generate high temperatures (more than 35 °c (95 °f)) that exceed the accepted and established limits, and in consequence the ecosystem is suffering irreversible damage. companies like "categ" and "electroguayas" have been forced to pay us$1000 fine, but this has not stopped this situation. other company called "interagua" has announced a new project that considers water treatment system for this area. the same is planned for puerto azul and the rest of the nearby cities. argentina the national law that regulates water resource in argentina is the decree 674 of 1989, established by the national executive power and applies to the federal capital and all the parties of buenos aires province that are subscribed to the national sanitary works entity regime. the aim of the law is to protect national water resources in means of good water usage, water pollution and the good functioning of the national sanitary works entity installations. as well, it's applied the resolution 79179 of 1990, which includes the instrumental arrangements for the decree 674 implementation. this resolution includes wastewater discharging parameters to sewer system, water course and rainwater collectors, which are included in annex a of the law. case description in june 2006, in argentina the concentration of different natural heavy materials, bacteria, nitrates and hydrocarbons exceed by much the figures considered dangerous. it is not by chance that rivers like the paraná, salado del norte, salado del sur, carcarañá, de la plata and colorado are among the most polluted on earth. argentina does not have control means for wastewater treatment or disposal. there is information that relates about important and numerous water bodies being affected by wastewater disposal, with intense eutrophication processes due to the lack of treatment. one out of four hospital beds is occupied by someone with a water related illness. in some inner areas of the country, like rosario and córdoba, water bodies are so polluted that the work in the water treatment plants has been affected. there are some projects to build treatment plants in the main locations, but discharges keeps growing. disposals from companies added to the domestic ones in the riachuelo-matanza sum up to 368,000 cubic metres (13,000,000 cu ft) per day, which is double of the minimum average flow of the river. the mud in it has great concentrations of chrome, copper, mercury, zinc, and lead. in addition, the highest concentrations of lead and chrome are located in the border between the councils of avellaneda and lanús, in the buenos aires province. the given treatments are not sufficient by any means, moreover, the treatments done by companies to their waste water are between deficient and non-existing. most of the water consumed by population comes from the same water bodies in which waste and domestic water is dumped, and because of the lack of treatment these populations ends up drinking water of doubtful quality or at a high purification cost. in may 2005, a report generated by the nation's general audit (agn) states that the plants that produce water drinkable are also polluting with elements contained in their waste water, which are over the national and provincial legislation. mexico mexican law of national waters regulates water exploitation, use, distribution, control, and the preservation of water quantity and quality. to manage the wastewater disposal and control water sources quality, it was created in 1996 by the environmental, natural resources and fishing secretarial, the official norm nom-002-ecol that establishes the maximum permissible limits of pollutants in wastewater discharges in urban sewer system. the norm specifies the permissible concentrations of pollutants per day, per month and instantaneous sampling, which are included in chapter 4 of this norm. case description in january 2010, members of the ducks unlimited association of mexico warned of the death of more than 5,000 migratory birds. the specialist from the association assured that the main cause of this episode was the non-treated waste waters from industrial polluters. he pointed out the real problem of pollution existing in the "de silva" dam, and in some others dams in the state. he demanded intervention of the national water commission (conagua) and from semarnar, in order to regulate the discharge of waste water that ends up in the turbio river. in april 2010, the municipal commission of water and sewer system of altamira (comapa) was fined by the national water commission, between 40 and 50 thousand pesos, for not having a water treatment plant as stated by