Staff Writer
In an effort to locate new sources of precious water amid a record drought that has threatened to deprive its capital of potable water, Uruguay is scrambling to install pipes and drill wells.
More than half of the 1.8 million inhabitants of the South American nation, who live in the Montevideo metropolitan region, have already turned en masse to bottled water for drinking and some cooking.
As a result, brackish water from the River Plate, an estuary on the Atlantic Ocean, has had to be added to water from the capital’s primary source, the Santa Lucia River.
As the worst drought in decades ravages the region, the estuary itself has also received less fresh water intake from the Uruguay and Parana rivers, both of which originate in Brazil.
The government began gradually raising the permitted quantities of salt and chloride in drinking water in May.
Trihalomethane levels are also higher. These chemical compounds, which are dangerous if taken over an extended period of time, are created when chlorine is used to disinfect water.
Authorities claim that the water that comes out of the city’s faucets is “safe,” but they cautioned pregnant women and others who are ill against drinking it.
It’s horrible to taste salt water in the tap water when brushing your teeth. While making mate, a herbal beverage, at her Montevideo home with bottled water, Isabel Moreira, 73, told AFP.
Moreira cited the water heater in her kitchen that had broken days before as an example of how the high salt content was having a negative impact on home appliances.
A 40-liter bottle, which she and a dog depend on each week for drinking water, costs about 600 pesos (about $16), which she regretted as a financial setback.
About 100 liters of water are stocked by Moreira.
For everyone of Montevideo’s more than 500,000 low-income citizens, the government has provided two liters of bottled water each day since the beginning of July.
Value added tax has been eliminated for those who can afford to purchase their own.
One of the few nations, Uruguay, has made access to water a fundamental human right.
“Safe,” but not for everyone
13.3 kilometers of pipe are being installed at Paso Valdez, 65 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Montevideo, to transport freshwater from the San Jose River to the Santa Lucia River to the east.
The Santa Lucia feeds two reservoirs that supply water to the Aguas Corrientes, one of which is currently dry and the other of which is just approximately three percent full.
On June 19, President Luis Lacalle Pou predicted that the work being done on the San Jose River by the state-owned water corporation OSE would be finished in 30 days.
On June 29, he issued a warning: “If it doesn’t rain, there will be a period in which the water is not drinkable” until the construction is finished. Since then, there have been sporadic, light rains that have delayed but not eliminated that dire deadline.
A well recently dug by OSE in Montevideo’s Batlle Park to extract groundwater produces roughly 30,000 gallons per hour, which are delivered to hospitals in tankers.
The city has also examined roughly 250 private wells in residents’ yards, but none of the water they hold has been discovered is wholesome.
The last significant infrastructure project to safeguard Montevideo’s access to freshwater was finished in the 1980s prior to these emergency measures.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Perez, a 40-year-old seller in town, claimed that bottled water was flying off the shelves.
Some folks consume eight to twelve huge bottles (each containing between six and ten liters) at once, he claimed. “Some businesses take up to 20” each day.
A sign in the window of a tavern nearby promises customers that all food served there is “made with bottled water.”
This Monday, Karina Rando, minister of public health, reaffirmed that the city’s tap water is “safe, except for certain populations.”
Pregnant women and those with high blood pressure make up nearly a third of the population of Uruguay, She advised against it on Twitter, adding that people with chronic renal illness, heart disease, and liver issues should also steer clear of it.
