Among the measures presented by the Broad Front are, firstly, granting vouchers of a value equivalent to 10 water drums to beneficiaries of the Uruguay Social Card of the Ministry of Social Development (Mides), as well as retirees and pensioners who receive a remuneration of less than two minimum pensions.
On the other hand, the opposition proposes to “exonerate from VAT and imesi to bottled water in all its presentations that come from natural sources, that is, they are not supplied from the sources that OSE uses”.
Along the same lines, they proposed “evaluating a significant reduction of the OSE fee users in the area affected by the increase in sodium chloride in the product and carry out a public welfare campaign informing the population about the situation”, something that the director of OSE had already raised, Edgardo Ortuno.
The Broad Front, concerned about water
The frontline senator, Mario Bergara, used his social networks to express the party’s concern about OSE’s water management. “Improvisation in management brings consequences like the one that comes out of our taps today, affects daily life and is paid for by the pocket of the population,” Bergara tweeted.
In this sense, he recalled the project of the dam of casupá, presented in 2020 and from which no progress was obtained, and regretted that starting it now would be too late. “We claim the need to advance in the Casupá dam project. Although today it would arrive very late, it is a necessary project for the development of the country, which was already financed with the seriousness of the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America”, explained the senator.
Bottled water sales skyrocketed
According to a survey by the consulting firm Id Retail, which consulted local businesses, a 93% more of water bottles in Montevideo in the first days of May, compared to the same period but last year. However, the firm clarified that the investigation did not take into account sales by distributors to supermarket chains.
Although the data represents a real shot compared to the usual numbers, probably driven by the OSE measure, the growth in the segment of bottled water canisterswhere the percentage of year-on-year increase reached 176% this week.
The considerable increase could be influenced, first of all, by the change in the taste of waterwhich –from OSE anticipated– has a flavor more salty. But in addition, the warnings of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) to severe hypertensive could have incentivized these numbers as well.
Source: Ambito
