The Río de la Plata Basin

This chapter scrutinizes customary practices and legal precedents on water management from the pre-colonial indigenous traditions to the present day, demonstrating the existence of a corpus iuris aquarum ambientalis applicable to the Río de la Plata basin. The corpus iuris stems from customary practices rooted in centuries old precedents and from regional and international duties of the five riparian states, four of them also being members of MERCOSUR. The chapter reviews the pre-Incan and post-Incan periods, the Spanish colonial phase, and current water law. It analyses whether the corpus iuris could resolve the controversial situation of the pulp mills factories on the Uruguayan bank of the River Uruguay, one of the main tributaries of the Río de la Plata. Because the River Uruguay demarcates the frontier between Argentina and Uruguay, the domestic legislation of both countries is also described and relevant South American case law is re-visited.