At the initiative of the Argentine government and following an international invitation to tender, Aguas Argentinas came into being on 1st May 1993 to take up two challenges:

• overcoming the difficult situation faced by the potable water and sanitation infrastructure and services of the city of Buenos Aires, at that time managed by the state via the company Obras Sanitarias de la Nación,

• and extension of these services to the populations not served.

In 1993, Aguas Argentinas was awarded the contract for water and wastewater services for the city of Buenos Aires. The contract was unilaterally terminated in 2006 by the Government of Argentina against the backdrop of the country’s financial crisis in 2002 and the depreciation of the Argentinean peso against the dollar.

Since then, the ICSID, the World Bank’s independent arbitration body, has confirmed, on July 30, 2010, the Republic of Argentina’s liability in the litigation concerning the termination of the water and wastewater concession contracts for the city of Buenos Aires and State of Santa Fe, which had pitted GDF SUEZ, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT and AGBAR against Argentina.

ICSID’s decision is an important recognition of the work accomplished on the ground by the employees of Aquas Argentinas, which, in 13 years (1993-2006), enabled, among other things, 2 million Argentineans who previously had no access to running water to be connected to the public drinking water service, and 1 million people previously without facilities to be connected to wastewater services.

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