Despite the rainfall, reserves fell again and breaches in the supply of OSE were detected again.
Despite the rains, the Paso Severino reserves remain in a critical situation.
Photo: @Estacion_bcp
The rains registered in the last hours did not manage to improve the situation in Montevideo and the metropolitan area, where the water crisis deepens and the reserves of Severine Pass continue to drop, to such an extent that today they are one 1.66% of its capacity.
According to the daily report of the Executive, in Paso Severino were detected today 1,117,482 cubic meters, a figure somewhat less than 1,121,711 cubic meters reported yesterday. At the same time, values of chloride and sodium above what is allowed, despite the fact that the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, anticipated that for the moment there will be no changes in the water provided by OSE, which continues to be “fit for human consumption”.
With respect to chloride and sodium levels, one of the pumping lines that supplies the capital and its surroundings managed to adjust to the parameters of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), which set the maximum allowed values at 720 mg/l of chloride and 440 mg/l of sodium. This is pumping line 6, which registered 710 mg/l and 427 mg/l of sodium.
On the other hand, the measurement of the daily chloride average reached 739 mg/l and 443 mg/l of sodium in pumping line 4, being pumping line 5, which supplies water to the western zone of Montevideo and surroundings, the of higher values: chloride reached 792 mg/l and sodium at 472 mg/l.
More than 511 thousand cubic meters were consumed, while bottled water sales grow
Regarding total consumption, in Montevideo and the metropolitan area of Uruguay were used today 511,537 cubic meters, slightly less than the previous day. This situation occurs in a context of a strong increase in the sales of bottled water, who came to 360% average in the capital and Canelones, according to a Scanntech report.
This skyrocket in sales goes hand in hand with the tax exemption in bottles and cans of still water, something that was unanimously validated by the Parliament, as one of the measures that the government took to try to mitigate the effects of the water crisis.
In the same way, both the Senate as the House of Representatives validated today the law that creates the Water Emergency Fund, announced days ago by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Azucena Arbeleche. This is an initiative that will finance access to drinking water for 500,000 people in a situation of vulnerability in the metropolitan area, for 12 million dollars monthly.
Source: Ambito
