UNF. Regional Oficce for

Transcription

1 UNF. Regional Oficce for Latin AiTÍerica

2 The preparation Acknowledgements

3 MUNICIPAL WASTE WATER AS A LAND-BASED SOURCE OF POLLUTION IN COASTAL AND MARINE AREAS

4 1. Foreword The diagnosis presented in this document focuses on the discharge of municipal and industrial wastewater into

5 2. Introduction Pollution from wastewater in the coastal zone is a historic alarm. Since the time of the Stockholm Agenda, warning had already been given concerning the problem of municipal wastewater. At the 1992 Rio Summit, it was said that by 2005 the problem would have to be reduced by 50%, though this has been impossible to achieve. According to UNEP, less than 20% of wastewater in Latin America receives adequate treatment, making this

6 The conditions of these Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) range from the subtropical region in the northern hemisphere through 80

7 The best-developed mangrove forests are north of the equator, along the Pacific coast of Colombia, Panama and the southern coast of Costa Rica. Similarly, the optimum tropical conditions of the Atlantic coast produce mangrove forests from the south of the Golfo de Paria (Venezuela) to Sao Luiz in Brazil. Brazil is among the three countries with the largest extension of mangrove forests in the world, along with Indonesia and Australia. Though abundant in Latin America and the Caribbean, only 11 of the 54 species of mangrove found around

8 Peru

9 These ecoregions can be seen on Map 3, and are the following: 1. Californian Current, EUA and Mexico. 2.

10 Urban water supply Rural Total water supply water suply Graph 2. (WHO, 2000) 100 Percentage comparison of

11 Within

12 The reason

13 Branch Sugar Chemicals Petriloum Iron

14 Southeast Pacific Along

15 population- will require

16 Caribbean

17 In Surinam,

18 Oil Percentage 100

19 The load

20 The elements needed for such integrated management including treatment of water must incorporate - among other things- the following: Participation

21 In Bolivia, the Law dates back to 1906; other legislative instruments were added to fill in the gaps. Nevertheless, these have been insufficient, and water has been managed by sector, leading to veritable chaos. This has been despite passing the bill "Law for the Protection and Conservation of the Environment

22 in Spanish) and in 1998 the Law on the Environment was decreed, leading to the creation of the National System

23 mented. The principal institution involved is that of the Ministry of the Environment through the General Department

24 3. Deficiency and Poor Quality of Services The service of supplying potable water in half the countries of the region is intermittent (PAHO/WHO, 2001),

25 the physical-chemical dynamics and the well being of its live resources, hence its productive potential as well.

26 capacity to monitor the effects of waste and maintain systematic supervision, including supervision of epidemiology;

27 and fostering the preservation of health and well being for present and future generations. It includes the countries of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Since 1983 it has been backed by an instrument on land-based sources of pollution, the "Protocol for the Protection of the Southeast Pacific from Land Based Sources

28

29 Because it does not appear to be urgent, it is necessary to prioritize the work on designing standards that ensure the conservation of the environmental quality of aquatic and coastal systems. Financing: As there

30 information,

31 6. Bibliography Arreglan

32 OPS/OMS, Salud, agua potable

33 The Following persons contributed to the preparation of this document UNEP/GPA UNEP/ROLAC Sustantive Coordination Veerle Vanderweerd Ricardo Sánchez Sosa Authors Oscar Manuel Ramírez Flores Ileana Espejel Carbajal Collaborators Kaveh Zahedi Analuisa Domínguez Hernández Osear Fernando Ramírez Martínez Vivian Ruzansky Antonio Díaz

34 GPA UEP Regional Oticce