A Paraguayan Court of Accounts ruled in favor of a residents' commission in Atyrá, ordering the local municipality to remove pipelines installed by Highlands Park to extract water from the Caacupé Aquifer. The decision, announced on Monday, annuls a precautionary measure that allowed the real estate development to use a deep well in Atyrá's territory to supply its project, the Highlands Lagoon Lifestyle complex, located in Ypacaraí.
Lawyer Víctor Samaniego, representative of the group "Defenders of the Caacupé Aquifer," explained that, with the annulment, a prior municipal resolution prohibiting extraction is reinstated. This obligates the municipality to remove the already installed infrastructure, which includes an approximately nine-kilometer aqueduct. Samaniego attributed the legal victory to persistent community mobilization, which included demonstrations and vigils under the slogan "the Caacupé Aquifer is not for sale, it is defended."
Despite the positive outcome, the lawyer stated that residents remain on alert. He emphasized that public pressure was crucial to reversing two precautionary measures previously granted to the company and that the threat of new legal appeals is still a concern. "We are always vigilant; it was our mobilization that pressured for justice to be done. The municipal resolution is correct, but we are in Paraguay and the danger is always latent," declared Samaniego.
The conflict began about a year ago, when residents reported the drilling of the well and installation of the aqueduct for exclusive use by the complex, developed by Petrohue Real Estate S.A. The Caacupé Aquifer is an important groundwater source located in the Cordillera department.