Overview
- A La Plata court judge, Mariano López, issued a precautionary injunction that bars AySA from changing its operational, infrastructure or investment obligations for the 26 Buenos Aires municipalities it serves.
- The Defensoría del Pueblo of Buenos Aires, led by Guido Lorenzino, filed the preventive action arguing the tender ignores existing environmental liabilities and lacks guarantees to secure access to safe drinking water.
- The measure, reported on June 18, 2026, halts steps tied to the national tender to sell a majority stake in AySA and pauses the government’s plan to raise roughly US$500 million from the transaction.
- The judge forwarded the case to federal court and ordered a full environmental, sanitary and institutional evaluation while forbidding cuts to investments, postponement of critical works or weakening of water-quality controls.
- The decision escalates scrutiny of President Javier Milei’s privatization drive and related valuation procedures, raising the prospect of wider legal reviews of other asset sales and of delays that could affect service continuity for users.