maldonado begin to prepare for the possibility that Montevideo need external drinking water supply Given the limit situation that the metropolitan area is going through in the middle of the water crisis: It could send two 30,000 liter tankers every half hour.
The scenario in Montevideo is critical: with the dam of Paso Severino at its historical minimum levelsand thanks to the rains of the last few days, the capital would only have water for about 20 days, approximately, considering that consumption levels remain constant and the level of salinity —increased from the mixture of river water St. Lucia with that of Parana River to extend available reserves—continue above the usual parameters.
This makes a short-term situation in which the metropolitan area runs out of drinking water completely possible, so from the National Administration of State Sanitary Works (OSE) They are already preparing to try to guarantee the supply.
Maldonado to the rescue
In this sense, the director of OSE in Maldonado, Jesus Bentancur, ensured that there is availability of drinking water in his department to send reservations to Montevideo in case of reaching an extreme situation. The response was before the consultation of the central authorities of the state company in the capital, which already warn of a near limit situation.
“It has been answered that from the 30,000 liter tanker trucks we can remove two every half hourwhich is a significant volume of support,” Bentancur explained to Underlined.
The director of Maldonado pointed out that the peak of consumption in the department occurs during the summer, while in autumn and winter consumption drops by halfso that the water reserves are left over in sufficient quantities to help supply Montevideo.
“Maldonado has an important water reserve, the citizens of Maldonado are convinced that the water that reaches their homes is completely drinkable. We are absolutely calm in that aspect”, specified Bentancur.
This measure would be complementary to another alternative: supply Montevideo from Maldonado, through the Willow Lagoon. In this way, OSE could extract up to 2,600 cubic meters per day of water to supply the metropolitan area.
The reservations, with the days numbered
After the rains that fell during the last week, the OSE authorities estimated this Wednesday that Montevideo and the metropolitan area have reserves until the next June 23, date on which, if there is no new precipitation.
According to data from the state company, the Paso Severino reserve recovered 28 centimeters after the runoff of rainwater, although in total it had lost ten meters. That means recovered between two and four days of supply, as reported by Teledoce, since it depends on how it is mixed with the salt water.
Faced with this complicated panorama, which shows that the water supply could be finished in little more than 20 days, The authorities expressed their concern about how the population could be affected if there is no heavy rain in the coming weeks and measures are already being analyzed to try to alleviate the water deficit.
Source: Ambito
