President Luis Lacalle Pou this Friday that the water crisis in the metropolitan area of Uruguay “quickly became an emergency” during a press conference at the Executive Tower, within the framework of the presentation of an artistic project for peace.
The conference was held with the aim of informing about the project that will transform the eagle graff spee in a dove and will be in charge of the sculptor Pablo Atchugarry; but after a question from one of the journalists present, the president gave a scoop that set off alarm bells: the water crisis that has the entire metropolitan area of the country in suspense “it is rapidly becoming an emergency”.
Faced with this situation, Lacalle Pou confirmed that next Monday at 5:00 p.m. he will meet with the Secretary of the Presidency, Alvaro Delgado; and with representatives of the ministries of Defense, Development, Economy and Financeand Atmosphere, as well as the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP) and of the National Administration of State Sanitary Works (OSE).
The reason for the meeting will be to “evaluate immediate measures as well as medium-term ones such as the Arazati projectwhich the government is already working on,” explained the president.
The announcement comes at an extremely critical moment in which the dam of Severine Pass continues at record low levels, with less than 5.66% of its total capacity, according to the latest OSE report, when on June 9 it had 6.5%. Currently, the volume of the reservoir is 3.79 million cubic meters — the total is 67 million cubic meters.
“The situation continues to be very critical,” OSE stated in the report. Since May 26, the basin levels St. Lucia they remain between 6% and 7% of their capacity thanks to the intermittent rains which, although not enough to reverse the situation, extended the possibility of continuing to supply the population for a few days. However, in recent days, Paso Severino once again hit a record low.
TO Montevideo, as long as there are no rains of sufficient intensity, only 7 days of drinking water left.
A project for peace
The reason for the conference in which President Lacalle Pou announced the “important meeting” that will take place on Monday had little to do with the water crisis. Actually, its objective was to announce an artistic project that will be carried out by the sculptor Pablo Atchugarry that will seek “transform a symbol of hate into a symbol of peace”.
In this sense, the bronze eagle that the Graf Spee carried, two meters high and almost three long, and weighing 350 kilos, will be transformed by the artist into a dove after remaining 67 years at the bottom of the sea. The project is possible after the Uruguayan State won a dispute over the possession of the important symbol of Nazism which, after Atchugarry’s artistic intervention —which will take several months of work— will be a new symbol of peace.
Source: Ambito
