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The growth of tourism from 5,512 visitors in 2002 to about 20,000 today has brought a number of changes and challenges to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini and the Esteros del Iberá. It was only in January 2009 that the town was hooked up to the main electrical grid. Prior to this the town’s electricity was supplied by a generally reliable, though noisy, diesel generator. Approximately 25% of the town’s residents are illegally connected to the electrical grid and pay nothing for their usage.
Colonia Carlos Pellegrini’s water supply is drawn from a well that has a depth of about 100 meters. However, while most hotels use septic systems for their sewage, some dispose of their waste on the street. Moreover, most residential sewage runs from the town into the Esteros (lagoon). In mid-2011 the first sewer lines were laid along the roads where some of the hotels are located to pipe wastewater to a treatment pool out of town. It is unclear when exactly this project will be completed. Additionally, because the town is lacking a trash/waste management facility, locals typically bury or burn their garbage.
While items such as plastics and glass can be sold and recycled in the nearest city of Mercedes, this is 120 kilometer drive and for this reason only a few hotels and businesses actually do so. In the past visitors had to take a 2½ to 3 hour ride on a potholed-dirt/clay road to get to the town. On the old road this trip could take even longer or not occur at all during the rainy season. After many years of discussion and disagreement among various stakeholders, it was decided to pave 80 kilometers of the road starting from Mercedes while the final 40 kilometers into Colonia Carlos Pellegrini will remain unpaved. Although the paving of the road will aid ranchers and farmers in the area in addition to shortening the time necessary to travel to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, paving the road has also led to worries that vehicles will be travelling faster throughout the area and cause more animal deaths. An additional concern is that since getting to the Esteros del Iberá will be easier, this would encourage more “day-trippers” which could lead to more trash for the area and potentially “stress” the animals and the ecosystem.
Finally, it should be mentioned that Doug Tompkins and his Conservation Land Trust organization has been behind a number of beautification projects such as renovating the town’s main plaza, the local municipal building and building a new camping site. Additionally, in 2010-11 the province placed streetlights every forty meters on streets that border the Esteros.