Argentina just ripped up its pioneering glacier law. What does this mean for millions of people’s drinking water?

Javier Milei’s reforms to the law will open up high-altitude areas to mining and risk water reserves already strained by the climate crisis, say activists

Saul Zeballos was born and raised in Jáchal, a community tucked into the foothills of the Andes in https://www.theguardian.com/world/argentina">Argentina, drinking water from the river that bears the town’s name.

That changed in 2005, when the https://www.barrick.com/English/operations/veladero/default.aspx#:~:text=The%20Veladero%20mine%20is%20located,venture%20operation%20with%20Shandong%20Gold.">Veladero gold and silver mine started operating in San Juan province.

A decade later, a major https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=27536">cyanide spill from the mine polluted the rivers in the San Juan region, raising fears it could https://www.reuters.com/article/business/water-not-contaminated-after-cyanide-spill-at-barricks-veladero-un-idUSL1N12118Z/">affect waterways downstream in the Jáchal basin, although further studies have shown that cyanide levels remained at safe levels.

Two further spills were reported in 2016 and 2017 and are still under investigation.