The water crisis continues to deepen Uruguay, to such an extent that the government decreed this Monday the water emergency for Montevideo and the metropolitan area, with measures to ensure the supply of OSE, which “it is guaranteed and it will not cut”, as indicated President Luis Lacalle Pou.
The prolonged drought has been affecting the service and it is believed that drinking water could run out in Montevideo this week, at a time when the reserves of the Paso Severino dam reached their historical minimum, falling below the 5.66% of its capacity, according to OSE data, with barely 3.79 million cubic meters out of a total of 67 million. Regarding the levels of the basin St. Lucia, they remain between 6% and 7% of their capacity.
By decreeing the water emergency, Lacalle Pou anticipated that the Executive will have greater tools to combat the crisis. Along these lines, he specified that technicians from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) are analyzing “how far it is possible” to raise the sodium and chloride levels in drinking water to guarantee the supply, given a weather forecast that does not forecast rain for the next few days.
At the same time, the president announced tax exemption for bottled water, in some cases by decree and in others through a bill that Parliament seeks to ratify between today and tomorrow. “We assume that the price has to drop significantly,” argued about it.
The government also extended the free supply of two liters of water per day for beneficiaries of the Ministry of Social Development (Mides), which was originally scheduled to run until July. He also clarified that drinking water is guaranteed in hospitals, residences, child and family care centers (CAIF) and INAU units.
Construction of the dam on the San José River begins
As part of the measures to try to alleviate this situation, which has already included the start-up of a temporary dam in Belastiquí, work begins on the reservoir in the san jose river (crosses the departments of Flores and San José), which seeks to add a new water source for the capital. With an investment of almost 20 million dollars and materials from Argentina and Brazil, it is expected to be operational at the beginning of July.
In addition, the government highlighted that progress has been made months ago in the bidding for the Arazati project, which they considered a work that “will put an end to the coming troubles.” In fact, a week ago OSE received two proposals from the private sector to advance in the construction of a new water treatment plant. The evaluation was expected to take between 60 and 90 days, although it will be necessary to see if the current situation ends up speeding up the deadlines.
In the same direction, the construction of a dam to the west of Canelones, in Parador Tajes, had been announced. It is expected that with this work it will be possible to pump water upwards that will be dammed with fresh water from the San José River, according to what was specified from the Ministry of Environment.
The plan includes an app for when the reservations run out
Faced with the imminent possibility that potable water reserves would run out, OSE proceeded to purchase an application for more than 40 million pesos for the organized distribution of bottled water in the metropolitan area and Montevideo, in a context of low rainfall.
This application must be installed by citizens on their cell phones and will have a certain amount as a credit so they can spend on bottled water. It will work in all businesses that sell water and will allow you to buy it at no cost or at a subsidized price, depending on each case.
Source: Ambito
