2023-06-22 23:13:41
The shortage in the main drinking water reservoirs puts the Government of Uruguay in troublea country that lives the consequences of the greatest drought of the century.
With no rain forecast, the Executive declared a water emergency for the metropolitan area, which brings together the departments of Montevideo, Canelones and San José and concentrates more than 60% of the population. In addition, he began to build a reservoir and infrastructure works on the San José River with the idea of having an alternative water source. In addition to the scarcity, the quality of the water alarms Uruguayans. Since May, the state company OSE has supplied the population with water with higher concentrations of sodium and chloride. The new composition has aroused the concern of the medical community that advises against its consumption, mainly in people with cardiovascular diseases.
Within this framework, the Government has guaranteed the supply of better quality water in hospitals, residences, child care centers and other dependencies, while in the capital the Municipality of Montevideo (IM) supplies bottled water to polyclinics for later distribution to the population at risk.
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Within this framework, the Municipality of Montevideo requested the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) the go-ahead to receive a non-reimbursable loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) —organization to which it requested support at the end of May— with the aim of allocating these funds to “address situations arising from the effects that the drought has generated in the department, mainly on families in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability.”
The IM required the authorization of the National Government to continue the dialogue with the IDB —which had shown good receptivity—, but this was not granted.
In dialogue with Sputnik, the deputy Álvaro Viviano assured that the Government is “monitoring the day to day and the Ministry of Economy and Finance is taking sufficient precautions and providing the necessary resources to mitigate the impacts” of the water crisis.
The legislator of the pro-government National Party did not consider that “this international assistance is necessary to mitigate the impacts” given that the Government, from the Ministry, “has assured the entities in charge of managing the water that the necessary resources will be available to deal with the emergency.”
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However, Viviano remarked that if to ensure the supply of drinking water it is necessary to “assistance of international financing“, this mechanism will be used.
“Today we believe that we are covered, but if resolving the issue for the population requires taking other types of paths that are not exactly on the table, of course we are going to take it,” he assured.
For his part, the opposition senator from the Broad Front, José Carlos Mahía, said that international support is “essential” given that Uruguay “has to appeal to those mechanisms that give the fastest and most urgent response to society.”
Mahía considered that the actions of the Government blocked the possibility of a negotiation between the Intendancy and the IDB, something that he considered “total pettiness” in which “partisan politics was prioritized over the interest of the people.”
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A late move?
On June 20 —one day after the water emergency was declared— the Government began construction works for the a reservoir on the San José River, as well as a piping system with the objective that OSE has an alternative water source and that allows guaranteeing the supply. The project will require a construction time of 30 days.
Viviano valued this mitigation work in the short term but emphasized that, in addition, the Government plans other “large-scale” works that ensure water intake from the Río de la Plata” in the medium term. This project, called Neptuno, “would have a duration of two years and the bidding offers are just being opened.”
On the other hand, Mahía considered that the Government “is reacting late to a problem that has been going on for a long time” and warned that “the slowness of the Government has affected the quality of life of many people in the country.”
He also added that the announced works on the San José river could have started a long time ago.
The agronomist engineer agreed with this Daniel Panario, director of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of the Republic. In dialogue with Sputnik, the expert defined the situation as “catastrophic” and pointed to the Government as the main party responsible for acting late to address the crisis.
Panario indicated that “the transfer of water from the San José River to running water for purification is something that Edgardo Ortuño [director de OSE y dirigente del Frente Amplio] He has been proposing for months and it could already be working”.
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