25% of children living in urban slums along the water's edge have lead in their bloodstreams, and even more suffer from gastrointestinal and respiratory illness.

[2] A contentious political subject since at least the 1862–68 administration of President Bartolomé Mitre,[3] the Riachuelo's plight has attracted the attention of other public figures, notably artist and Greenpeace activist Nicolás García Uriburu, who planned to dye the waterway green in 1970, and later carried through on World Water Day (March 22) in 2010, to draw attention to the problem.

[4] In 1993, President Carlos Menem's Secretary of Environment, María Julia Alsogaray, presented a 3-year project to clean up the Riachuelo that was approved, but never started, let alone concluded.

[6] A period of optimism regarding the waterway's condition followed announcements in 2006 by President Néstor Kirchner that the Riachuelo's improvement would be prioritized;[7] but, though some efforts were undertaken,[3] the river remains a source of health problems and urban blight for its adjoining neighbourhoods.

[12] In July 2008 the Argentinian Supreme Court issued its decision, recognising the federal government's liability, together with the city and province of Buenos Aires, for the environmental damages in the river.

[13] The Court ordered the governments to: (a) improve the quality of life for the people living in the area, (b) remediate the ecological damage of the basin and (c) prevent further contamination.