Incluye bibliografía

Contenido: v.1. Summary report -- v.2. Technical report: 1. Pollution problems and their cost -- 2. Managing municipal water pollution and sewage -- 3. Managing industrial pollution -- 4. Managing transport sector pollution -- 5. Managing solid wastes -- 6. Institutional aspects of environmental management -- 7. Towards an integrated plan of action -- Annex: References

In general, Argentina has more environmental pollution than one would expect in a country with upper-middle income level of development. These problems result mainly from the gradual increase of the urban population and industrial development, combined with an inadequate regulatory framework and a long-standing deficit in sanitary and waste treatment infrastructure. The objective of this report is to assist the government in developing such a strategy. The proposed approach is to: 1) review the health, productivity, amenity and other costs associated with the different forms of pollution as a basis for establishing relative priorities; 2) review the options for addressing the priority problems based on the comparison of effectiveness and costs; and 3) integrate the results into a recommended plan of action. Based on limited available information, the most severe problems appear to be in the major urban areas: 1) groundwater contamination; 2) air and noise pollution; 3) uncontrolled solid waste dumps; 4) surface water contamination; 5) overlapping institutional authority and capacity; and 6) virtually nonexistent environmental monitoring information and analysis. Finally, the report is organized as follows: 1) chapter I presents an overview of pollution problems in Argentina and attempts to analyze the costs of pollution; 2) chapters II-V present options for addressing pollution problems, assessing their costs, and determining, where feasible the cost of effective interventions; 3) chapter VI analyzes institutional questions; and 4) chapter VII concludes with the definition of priorities for action.