The MSP assured that it does not involve health risks, but recommended severe hypertensives to control their blood pressure “more frequently”.
Thousands of Uruguayans, especially in the city of Montevideo and the Metropolitan area they wonder about these days Why is the water in OSE salty?. It is a reality, the National Administration of State Sanitary Works decided in recent days to once again increase the level of salinity in the mixture of drinking water that it distributes in the area, to make the Bookings Faced with the critical situation of scarcity caused by the drought.
This measure had already been taken by the board of directors of the state company at the end of last month, when the proportion of sodium in the fluid increased from 200 milligrams per liter to 280 mg/L, while from chloride they went from 280 mg/L to 450 mg/L. Now, this Thursday, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) authorized a new increase in the measures, which went to 400 mg/L and 700 mg/L respectively.
Current regulations provide for a ceiling of 250 mg/L of salinity, so current levels are well above. However, as when they took the measure at the end of April, the OSE and MSP authorities insisted that the decision will have no effect on health and that it only implies a sensitive difference to the “palate”. Raúl Montero, director of the company, clarified: “It is not a determining limitthat it is older does not mean that it is harmful to health ”,
In this Thursday’s announcements, Minister Karina Rando emphasized: “They are not values that affect health. Sodium and chlorine are values that in our country are recommended up to a certain value, but not precisely because they affect health, but because they actually affect the conditions called electrical organs: that is, the taste, smell, or color that may have the water.”
In any case, Health recommended greater control among severely hypertensive patients
In the first increase in salinity, Montero clarified that, with said increase, 450 milligrams of salinity per liter were reached. “If we drink two liters, we are not taking (not even) a gram of salt. It is much less than the limits that our doctors advise us,” he specified. However, with the new increase, those levels increased again.
Although from the portfolio that Rando directs they ratified that water is “totally safe” to consumerecommended to severe hypertensive that their blood pressure controls be carried out “more frequently” and, if they can do so, consume bottled mineral water. In addition, they recommended consulting a doctor before the appearance of changes in pressure.
The warning was also for those with kidney failure. Both for them and for those with high blood pressure, the chief commented: “These patients have a restriction in salt intake and we are adding a little salt. If we take into account that they consume approximately 2.5 grams or 3 grams of salt per day and we add 0.4 grams or 0.5 grams could be significant.”
Source: Ambito
