De Agua Research Articles

Capacidades institucionales y desempeño de los organismos operadores de agua en Hermosillo, Sonora, y Mexicali, Baja California

Con el enfoque de capacidad institucional, aquí se analizan los factores políticos que influyeron en la asignación de recursos jurídicos, organizacionales y humanos para la Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos de Mexicali y para Agua de Hermosillo. También cómo influye el titular del Ejecutivo en su operación, y cómo se refleja la influencia de los factores institucionales en su desempeño. Si bien el estudio muestra la baja capacidad de ambos organismos en el aspecto de recursos humanos, el de Mexicali es superior en los otros rubros, y eso se traduce en más planeación y, por lo tanto, en mejor desempeño.

Manizales’ Water Distribution System –Aguas de Manizales S.A. E.S.P.

Aguas de Manizales S.A. E.S.P. is a mixed-capital company, of a commercial nature, in accordance with the provisions of Law 142/94 and other applicable laws of the Republic of Colombia. According to Agreements 133 and 134 of September 1st of 1995, issued by the Municipal Council of Manizales, the authorization for the establishment of companies that provide the public services in the form of joint-stock company was given.The institutionalization of the company in 1996, once the water distribution and drainage services were split from the other services offered by the former Public Service Porvider of Manizales (Empresas Públicas de Manizales), represented the beginning of an improvement period. This includes activities focused on conservation of water sources, refinement processes, extension of water networks, process standardization, setting up of laboratories, acquisition of new technology, as well as marketing of products and services easily accessible to the public through the water bill and with a high covering commercial network [1].

Women and Servants by Lope deVega

Reviewed by: Women and Servants by Lope deVega Edward Mclean Test Lope deVega. Women and Servants. Translated by Barbara Fuchs. JUAN DE LA CUESTA, 2016. 111 pp. BARBARA FUCHS BRINGS INTO ENGLISH the first translation of Lope de Vega's recently rediscovered Mujeres y Criados (Women and Servants). The first modern Spanish edition of the play (Editorial Gredos, S.A., 2014), thoroughly edited by Syracuse professor Alejandro García-Reidy, adds yet another fine comedy to the copious dramatic works of the Fénix de los Ingenios. The comedy (circa 1613–14) exhibits Lope de Vega's mature metrical style and a well-choreographed interplay of multiple plots. This urban comedy subverts the expected social norms of seventeenth-century Madrid and gives women and servants the wherewithal to dupe nobles and fulfill their amorous desires. The plot revolves around three love triangles. The primary triangle involves Count Próspero and his secretary Teodoro, who are both in love with a local woman, Luciana. Immediately in Act I, the subversive tone begins as Próspero becomes suspicious that his lower class valet, Claridán, is also in love with Luciana. He is tentatively relieved when he discovers that Claridán is actually in love with Luciana's sister, Violante. Próspero is quickly disappointed, however, when he learns that his secretary, Teodoro, is indeed in love with Luciana. Meanwhile Florencio, father of Luciana and Violante, schemes to have another noble, Don Pedro, marry Violante, thus setting in motion two triangles of competing love interests (the third love triangle is a sub-plot of two footmen and a servant woman). Secretive meetings between lovers occur during the required 'medicinal' walks in the park after drinking agua de acero ("steel water"), a curative for women who became too pale from lovesickness or self-induced anemia. The women, to the contrary, are not weak or sick and wield their "steel" with more efficacy than the men wield their steel swords. In act 2, love interests collide in Florencio's house. Próspero attempts to sideline Teodoro by sending him out of town for six months, but Luciana (again) intervenes to keep her desired lover close by. Luciana pleads with Próspero to assist a young man hiding in her father's house who needs to lay low after stabbing a gallant during a quarrel. Delighted, Count Próspero now has a reason to visit Luciana frequently. The hiding man, falsely named as [End Page 173] another Don Pedro, is actually Luciana's desired Teodoro. Great confusion (and wonderful dramatic irony) ensues in a spectacular scene when the real Don Pedro arrives. Count Prospero believes he has finally met the young gallant hiding in the house, and when he asks about wounds from a quarrel, Don Pedro assumes he is speaking about the wounds of love he feels for Violante. The exchange is hilarious, and the translation does not miss a beat. Act 3 opens with the real Don Pedro's father, Emiliano, berating his son for getting violent in a quarrel, which Don Pedro denies (of course, since Luciana dreamed up the quarrel). Emiliano then visits Count Próspero to thank him for helping hide his son and asks for help marrying him off to Violante. The Count readily obliges since it will once again bring him closer to Luciana, and promptly visits Florencio to ask that Don Pedro and Violante marry that evening. Florencio is happy with the arrangement, but everything is undermined when the truth comes out. The real Don Pedro arrives thinking he is a groom, only to discover that another "Don Pedro" is hiding in the house, Teodoro. Florencio and the Count are furious, but in order for honor to be kept, Florencio allows Teodoro to marry Luciana and Claridán to marry Violante. Notably, the women who subvert social norms are brought back into the fold with a traditional set of approved marriages. Translation is always a tricky task, especially of verse. Fuchs chooses to convert Lope's redondillas, octavos, and sonetos into prose because she finds it is "more conducive to successful production in an Anglo-Saxon context" (20). This is a translation with an eye for performance...

Cartagena's Water Distribution System

Cartagena's Water Distribution System serves almost one million inhabitants. The raw water that feeds the system is collected 40km from the city, and it is transported by series of pumping stations to El Bosque Water Treatment Plant (WTP). From this place, the water is conveyed to 10 District Meter Areas (DMAs) working under the scheme 24/7 (24hours, 7 days a week). The flat topography with isolated elevations has demanded the construction of pressure regulating systems. In some cases, these systems increase the pressure, but in other cases the pressure regulating systems reduce it. The company responsible of Cartagena's WDS operation is Aguas de Cartagena SA. E.S.P, which has made significant efforts to reduce the level of non-revenue water.

Human Rights & Environment in Investment Arbitration: A Tale of Two Wars and Two Battles (Aguas V Argentina; Glamis Gold V. USA)

Human rights and environment are those two chapters seldom found in most treaties and treatise on international investment law. Most investment tribunals prefer to skilfully skirt the issues with the apprehension of developing the law one way or the other or over-stepping their mandate. They represent two issues which have historically, and will perhaps in future, symbolize ‘bones of contention’. This 'tug-of-war' has been repeatedly fought between states inter se across negotiation tables and between states and investors in arbitral proceedings. History has shown that some, though not all, international corporations have blatantly disregarded human rights and the host state's environment. Instances like 'Bhopal gas tragedy' and 'Lempa river' fiasco may have faded in the memory of the international community but have forever scarred the victims. But this is a cyclic debate, for foreign investors come to developing countries to do what they cannot in their own. Thus, the competing interests have to be balanced to ensure sustainability. This article discusses the controversies surrounding Human Rights and Environment in Investment Arbitration from the perspective of 2 leading caselaw 1. Suez, Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona, S.A. and Vivendi Universal, S.A. v. Argentine Republic, ICSID Case No. ARB/03/19 and Glamis Gold, Ltd v United States of America, Award of 8 June 2009, [2009] 48 ILM 1039 (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes).

Environmental Assessment for Health Tourism in Baños de Agua Santa, Ecuador

The aim of this study is to apply the methodology for assessment of environmental impact of the heritage town with health tourism interest that is assessed. Health tourism is based on the appropriate employment of natural resources, landscapes and the natural and cultural heritage of a place. In order to carry out the study, a set of both theoretical and empirical methods were used to analyze the case of Baños de Agua Santa. The theoretical methods include the analysis and synthesis employed throughout the research process, as well as in the bibliographic study and the evaluation of the information obtained. In addition, the inductive-deductive method was employed to analyze, process, and treat the information and data that were used frequently in this work. As for the empirical methods, the researchers employed participatory techniques with community stakeholders, in order to gather information through interviews. Also, researchers conducted direct observation of community activities. The automated method software is used which requires a baseline study of the environment assessment in Tungurahua, Ecuador, to be prepared. In addition, the analysis of the social perception on tourism of the local people from the course work of students at the UIDE shall be applied. The conclusions of the case studies undertaken allow for strategic proposals and recommendations to be prepared so that they can be incorporated into the management plans for health tourism in the town with natural heritage value.

Identification of the Type of Strategic Policy for Sustainable Development on the Basis of Territorial Characterization. A Case Study in Canton Baños de Agua Santa, Tungurahua, Ecuador

This study was carried out in Banos de Agua Santa, Province of Tungurahua-Ecuador; From the time of Spanish colonization to the present day, the failure to implement sustainable development policies has led to the decline of some economic activities and has driven tourism as the main source of income without structured sustainable guidelines with established planning for which becomes a fundamental alternative axis, generating the depletion of tourism resources and territorial disorder, the product of an imposing mercantilist system that guides competitiveness in an indiscriminate way. In correspondence the objective was to identify the type of strategic policy for the sustained development of the tourist destination referred to. Methodologically the study uses theoretical methods such as analysis and synthesis, inductive-deductive, historical-logical, others of the empirical level, among which we can cite the criterion of experts, matrices of analysis such as: external factor evaluation (EFE), evaluation of Internal factors (EFI), SWOT analysis, strategic evaluation and position of action (PEEA) and descriptive statistics. The results obtained were the determination of the present and future incidence of economic activities in the territory under study and the projection of the type of strategic policy for sustainable and responsible management of natural, cultural, socio-productive resources, preventing different Economic cycles, through the evaluation of their productive factors.

EVALUATION OF THE DEGREES OF INTELLECTUAL MATURITY IN THE PROCESS OF READING AND WRITING THROUGH MOBILE LEARNING OBJECTS

This article describes the learning development by a mobile learning object based on Android technology. This educational resource has us provides a set activities of multimedia recreational to strengthen the learning processes of reading and writing in students from five to six years old. Five teachers and twenty students are involved in this project therefore an empirical research was carried out regarding the learning development and evaluation through mobile devices, they are members at Banos de Agua Santa City elementary school in Ecuador. To elaborate the initial diagnosis, a ten questions survey was applied to the teachers and The ABC Test was applied to students. The preliminary results allowed us to evaluate the students' intellectual maturity level and their learning problems; fifty percent of them had reading and writing problems, so a learning object was designed based on these results with the ADDIE Model, by Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation, this methodology allows an instructional and interactive design, it has five stages and the result of each one is used as formative assessment product for the following stages. Finally, after a learning intellectual maturity evaluation during three months the results showed a reading and writing skills increase, such us motivation, perception, motor skills and concentration.

Inseguridad y mecanismos barriales de protección en el Perú urbano

Este trabajo explora y compara, a través del empleo de técnicas cualitativas, las nuevas percepciones de inseguridad que se han generado en los últimos años en los vecinos de dos barrios urbanos del Perú y los respectivos mecanismos barriales de protección que han implementado para darles una respuesta. Por un lado, la Ronda Urbana del barrio de “Agua de Pajaritos” en el distrito de Huamachuco, departamento de La Libertad, y por otro lado las rejas y vigilantes en las calles del barrio de La Huerta en el distrito del Rímac, departamento de Lima. Si bien ambos barrios se sitúan en contextos urbanos diferentes, en ambos casos se han evidenciado características comunes que permiten aproximarse a las percepciones sobre inseguridad y las visiones sobre la provisión de seguridad, a veces contradictorias con el ideal de convivencia ciudadana en las ciudades modernas.

Recuperación de proteína de barrilete (Katsuwonus pelamis) del agua de proceso con diferentes combinaciones de pH y temperatura

Recuperación de proteína de barrilete (Katsuwonus pelamis) del agua de proceso con diferentes combinaciones de pH y temperatura

Water resource quality as related to economic activity and health patterns in Sonora, Mexico

The aim of this work is to analyze the spatial distribution of potential pollution pathways of water resources given the economic activity in the Mexican border state of Sonora and propose a regional distribution in relation to cancer mortality rates across the state. The methodology is based in an exploratory and inferential data analysis using two sources of primary data: wastewater discharge concessions registered in the Public Registry on Water Rights [Registro Público de Derechos de Agua] (REPDA) and the records generated by the National Health Information System [Sistema Nacional de Información en Salud] (SINAIS) in the period 1998-2011 based on the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). The spatial concentration analysis allows for the identification of specific cancer mortality causes at the regional level. Results indicate that the projected adjustments to the regulation NOM-250-SSA1-2014, which controls a subset of pollutants common in mining activity surroundings, is a matter of regional concern.

Morfoscopia e Morfologia da Cobertura Pedológica às Margens do Rio Uruguai no Oeste de Santa Catarina

Knowledge and interpretation of the sedimentary record of surface coverage and landscape soil is a valuable tool for understanding the paleoenvironment and its changes Pleistocene/Holocene why this happened during the last few thousand years of the Quaternary period. In this sense, from the pedostratigraphy and morfoestratigraphy point of view, this work intends to contribute to the understanding of the genesis of soil cover on the banks of the Uruguay River and its paleoenvironmental context that contains evidence of pre-Columbian populations along this pedogenizado stuff in Aguas de Chapeco. Through morphological description and analysis morphoscopic of sands of three representative pedological profiles of low slope roofs, it is concluded that the morphoscopic analysis provided evidence of fluvial participation in both the banks of the Uruguay River where the study area is located. But the morphoscopic analysis was inefficient to distinguish the genetic origin of soil horizons in terms of allochthonous or autochthonous them.

Silvopastoral systems of the Chol Mayan ethnic group in southern Mexico: Strategies with a traditional basis

Silvopastoral systems combine trees and/or shrubs with grazing cattle. In the municipality of Salto de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico, some indigenous communities have developed silvopastoral systems based on their traditional knowledge regarding use of local natural resources. Through analysis of classification based on the composition of tree vegetation, two groups of grazing units were identified in the study area. Different attributes of tree and herbaceous vegetation, as well as of agricultural management and production, were compared between the two groups. Results indicate that at least two strategies of silvopastoral management exist. The first - LTD - is characterized by an average density of 22 adult trees ha−1 in grazing units with an average surface area of 22.4 ha. The second - HTD - has an average of 54.4 trees ha−1 in grazing units with an average surface area of 12.2 ha. Average richness per grazing unit for the LTD strategy was 7.2 species, and for HTD strategy it was 12.7 species. Average basal area for LTD was 1.7 m2 ha−1, and for HTD 3.8 m2 ha−1. Finally, the average level of fixed carbon for LTD was 2.12 mg ha−1, and for HTD 4.89 mg ha−1. For all variables, there was a significant difference between the two strategies. In addition, both strategies differ in prairie management. In the HTD strategy, growers spare their preferred spontaneously growing tree species by clearing around them. Many of these species, particularly those harvested for timber, belong to the original vegetation. In these prairies, average coverage of native grasses (60.8 ± 7.85) was significantly greater than in the LTD strategy (38.4 ± 11.32), and neither fertilizers nor fire are used to maintain or improve the pastures; by contrast, in HTD prairies, introduced grasses, principally Cynodon plectostachyus, have a higher average coverage (43.4 ± 13.75) than in the LTD prairies (17.08 ± 9.02). Regardless of the differences in composition of tree and herbaceous vegetation, in both types of grazing units a similar animal load is maintained.Many attributes of these silvopastoral strategies - based on traditional technology of the Chol farmers of the Tulija River Valley - concord with sustainable agriculture and provide a wide variety of services to the farmer and the environment. Diffusion of this technology in areas similar to that of this region could have a positive impact on the economy of conventional cattle raisers while generating environmental services.

Acceso equitativo a servicios de agua potable y alcantarillado: una oportunidad para el activismo judicial y social a nivel local

En Colombia cerca del 97% y el 87% de la poblacion accede a servicios de agua potable y saneamiento (SAPS), respectivamente. No obstante, el pais tiene el reto de atacar la inequidad en la provision de estos servicios publicos, la cual afecta particularmente, a la poblacion con un nivel de ingreso muy bajo y localizada en zonas rurales y periurbanas caracterizadas por su escaso desarrollo. Este ultimo debido a la falta de estrategias de gestion y ejecucion de los municipios para garantizar procesos urbanisticos organizados e incluyentes. A partir de un estudio de dogmatica juridica pretendo mostrar que el uso adecuado de las ordenes complejas por parte de jueces locales en casos estructurales que involucran la provision de SAPS, pueden ser una herramienta de desbloqueo institucional que permita atacar las inequidades historicas de poblaciones socioeconomicamente vulnerables y por ende, garantizar el goce efectivo de dos derechos sociales fundamentales: el agua potable y el saneamiento basico. In Colombia about 97% and 87% of the population has access to drinking water and sanitation services, respectively. However, the country stands the challenge of meeting inequality in the provision of these public services, particularly to the underdeveloped-low-income population located in rural and peri-urban areas. There are several factors preventing the implementation of strategies to warrant the access to public services; one of them is the lack of organized and inclusive programs developed within the municipalities. From a study of legal doctrine, I intend to argue that local judges can make use of complex legal orders in judicial cases related to public services to deal with the historical inequities and ensure the rights to access to drinking water and basic sanitation

Impacto de los nanocontaminantes en biorreactores aerobios para tratamiento de aguas residuales

The production of nanomaterials (NMs) such as SiO2, TiO2, ZnO, CeO2, and Al2O3has increased in the last years becausethey are frequently incorporated in dail...

Variación en contenido de minerales en frutos de variedades autóctonas de chile (Capsicum annuum l.), cultivadas en invernadero

Background: Malnutrition is a major health problem in developed and developing countries, and in Latino American, a viable option is reconsider the pre-Columbian and traditional diets based on endemic species. In Mesoamerica, the chilli or pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) played an important role, and its contribution remain until today in the Mexican gastronomy. Objective: the aim of the present work was to evaluate the variation among and within five morphotypes of pepper (C. annuum L.) native of Oaxaca, Mexico, in relation to minerals content in fruits. Methods: a collection of 45 population samples of chilli pepper, which were grouped in five morphotypes named as chile de Agua, Tabiche, Piquin, Solterito and Nanche, and later planted in greenhouse conditions under a complete blocks randomized design with three replications. At harvest time a fruit samples from 300 to 500 g per population were obtained, and later the samples were incinerated to obtain ashes, which were solubilized in acid medium. The determinations of Cu, Fe, Mg, Zn, Na, K, and Ca were done by atomic absorption spectrometry, and the S and P elements were quantified by an UV-vis spectrometer. Results: in the analysis of variance, significant differences (P < 0.05) were determined among and within morphotypes of C. annuum over all macro and trace elements. Solterito presented the highest values in eight mineral elements, after Piquin and chile de Agua were the second more important. In Fe content, Piquin and Solterito showed high values between 8.0 and 8.5 mg/100 g of dry sample weight. Into each morphotype, the outstanding populations were: CAG03 and CAG10 from chile de Agua; CNA02 of Nanche; CPI02 and CPI09 of Piquin type; CSO01, CSO02 and CSO03 from Solterito; and CTA02 and CTA05 from Tabiche type. The differences among morphotypes were confirmed in the multiple discriminant analysis and the Mahalanobis’ distances. Conclusions: The results showed differences among and within morfotypes of C. annuum, and the minerals content reported indicate that, the chilli pepper is a food with high nutritional values. In fact 100 g of dry weight, potentially can supply the dairy needs of Cu, Mg, P and an important proportion of the needs of Fe, Zn and K, among other nutritional elements.

Growth Performance of Philippine Native Chicken Fed Diet Supplemented with Varying Levels of Madre de Agua (Trichanthera gigantea Nees) Leaf Meal

This study aimed to assess the effects of different levels of Trichanthera gigantea leaf meal (TGLM) supplementation on the growth performance of Philippine Native chickens fed commercial chicken grower ration. A total of 96 three-month old native chickens of two sexes were randomly distributed to the four treatments with 3 replicates and 4 chickens per replicate in a 2 x 4 factorial in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Under semi-confinement system, the dietary treatments consisted of 0, 5, 10, and 15% levels of TGLM supplementation for 13 weeks. Results revealed that cumulative voluntary feed intake (VFI) increased as TGLM supplementation increased, and was significantly highest with 15% level at weeks 10, 11 and 12. Although differences were not significant except at weeks 4 and 7, there was a decreasing trend in cumulative weight gain (CWG) with increasing TGLM level. Average daily gain (ADG) was not significantly affected by varying levels of TGLM supplementation, and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) showed a decreasing trend as TGLM level increased and was only significantly low (p&lt;0.01) with 15% level at week 7. Comparing between sexes, the males were significantly higher than females in all production performance parameters. Therefore, TGLM is palatable but not adequate enough to supply the nutrients needed for a comparable weight gain with that of 0% supplementation, and a 5 10% inclusion in the diet is recommended.

Andean stratigraphic record of the transition from backarc extension to orogenic shortening: A case study from the northern Neuquén Basin, Argentina

The temporal transition from backarc extension to retroarc shortening is a fundamental process in the evolution of many Andean-type convergent margins. This switch in tectonic regime is preserved in the 5–7 km thick Mesozoic-Cenozoic stratigraphic record of west-central Argentina at 34–36°S, where the northern Neuquén Basin and succeeding Cenozoic foreland succession chronicle a long history of fluctuating depositional systems and diverse sediment source regions during Andean orogenesis. New findings from sediment provenance and facies analyses are integrated with detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological results from 16 samples of Jurassic through Miocene clastic deposits to delineate the progressive exhumation of the evolving Andean magmatic arc, retroarc fold-thrust belt, and foreland province. Abrupt changes in provenance and depositional conditions can be reconciled with a complex Mesozoic-Cenozoic history of extension, postextensional thermal subsidence, punctuated tectonic inversion, thick- and thin-skinned shortening, overlapping igneous activity, and alternating phases of basin accumulation, sediment bypass, and erosion.U-Pb age distributions constrain the depositional ages of Cenozoic units and reveal a prolonged late middle Eocene to earliest Miocene (roughly 40–20 Ma) hiatus in the retroarc foreland basin. This stratigraphic gap is expressed as a regional disconformity that marks a pronounced shift in depositional conditions and sediment sources, from (i) slow Paleocene–middle Eocene accumulation of distal fluviolacustrine sediments (Pircala and Coihueco Formations) contributed from far western magmatic arc sources (Cretaceous–Paleogene volcanic rocks) and subordinate eastern basement rocks (Permian-Triassic Choiyoi igneous complex) to (ii) rapid Miocene–Quaternary accumulation of proximal fluvial to megafan sediments (Agua de la Piedra, Loma Fiera, and Tristeza Formations) recycled from emerging western thrust-belt sources of Mesozoic basin fill originally derived from basement and magmatic arc sources. The mid-Cenozoic stratigraphic gap signified ∼20 Myr of nondeposition, potentially during passage of a flexural forebulge or during neutral to extensional conditions driven by mechanical decoupling and a possible retreating-slab configuration along the Nazca-South America plate boundary. Neogene eastward propagation of the Malargüe fold-thrust belt involved basement inversion with geometrically and kinematically linked thin-skinned shortening at shallow foreland levels, including late Miocene deposition of accurately dated 10.5–7.5 Ma growth strata and ensuing displacement along the frontal emergent and blind thrust structures. Subsequent partitioning and exhumation of Cenozoic clastic fill of the Malargüe foreland basin has been driven by inboard advance of arc magmatism and Pliocene-Quaternary uplift of the San Rafael basement block farther east.

The East Coast of Algarve: a Barrier Island Dominated Coast

The east coast of the Algarve (Olhos de Agua – Guadiana) is a low sandy coast with a high diversity of environments, including a cliffed coast, sandy beaches, dune ridges, an estuary, artificial/antrophic sectors and a main, complex, central morphology: the Ria Formosa barrier islands and coastal lagoon system. The large majority of this coastal sector is within the Ria Formosa Natural Park and therefore protected by Nature conservation laws. Nevertheless, human activities contributed to some of the most important changes on coastal behaviour during the last decades, increasing processes complexity and incrementing furthermore the difficulties for the already demanding understanding of coastal evolution.

Potters and herders at the southern edge of the Andean world: Risk management and mobility in Northwestern Mendoza, Argentina

This study addresses the risk-management activities of Andean pastoralists in northwestern, Mendoza. We compare data from one high-altitude site, Agua de la Cueva, located near a spring and an excellent hunting ground, and a domestic pit house at the site San Ignacio in a nearby mountain valley. We analyze data from roughly contemporaneous contexts dating to 1100–1400 cal BP. Osteometric measurements of camelid post-cranial bones and comparisons to modern camelids with multivariate statistics confirmed the presence of wild guanacos and vicuñas as well as castrated and uncastrated domestic llamas. Hence, this is one of the southernmost areas where Andean pastoralism was practiced. Petrographic analysis of pottery and comparisons to local geology suggest strong similarities between the sites. Similar fabrics suggest a closely-connected group that probably made effective and complementary use of these two environments. Previous studies have established the presence of vessels from the other side of the Andes indicating long-distance contacts between populations on both sides of the Andes. These contacts may have been made via caravans that included castrated llamas, which are ethnographically preferred among drovers. The possibility of caravans is a hypothesis to be tested with future research. Our data suggest these groups participated in seasonal and perhaps long-distance movements in addition to other activities such as hunting, herding, and storing food. The combination of these risk-management strategies provided a stable economic base for the potters and herders of northwestern Mendoza. This case can be broadly compared to better-known archaeological and ethnographic examples from other parts of the Andes.