Uruguay faces its worst drought in seven decades

“It’s gloomy,” says Uruguayan Mario del Pino, pointing to the Canelón Grande reservoir, an important source of water for Uruguay’s thirsty capital Montevideo.

Now, the place is surrounded by brush and cracked earth. “Water used to cover everything you can see,” she emphasizes, pointing out the enormous decrease in water reserves.

Uruguay experiences severe drought and water scarcity, the worst in 74 years, the experts remark, while the South American country exemplifies what can happen in the rest of the world. Climate change is not only a reality, but its consequences are felt in increasingly aggressive ways.

Paradoxically, Uruguay was the first country in the world to enshrine the right to drinking water in its 2004 Constitution, but today what is embodied in the laws is not reflected in reality.

The main source of fresh water for Montevideo and its surroundings is the Paso Severino reservoir, some 85 km north of the capital. However, there the picture is no different either, reserves have been declining for months.

As of June 7, when the most recent official balance was released, there were 4,400,000 m3 of a total of 67,000,000 m3 of capacity. Worrying figures, since Montevideo consumes an average of 550,000 m3 per day.

What used to be a mighty dam now resembles a simple puddle. The biologists explain that although the nation has experienced a relatively “normal” drought in the last two years, since the end of 2022 the rains have been scarce.

The decrease in rainfall is historic. Only a few drops have fallen in recent days, at a time when the La Niña phenomenon hits Uruguayan territory.

The water is “undrinkable”

The shortage of the vital liquid is such that this week the health authorities extended until July 20 the maximum limits of sodium and chlorides allowed in the water that the National Administration of State Sanitary Works (OSE) distributes in Montevideo and surrounding towns. , already exceptionally increased twice.

They also endorsed the temporary increase in trihalomethanes (THMs), chemical compounds that are formed during chlorine disinfection and are harmful if consumed over decades.

“It is absolutely certain that for 45 days the increase in THM does not cause any harm to health,” declared the Minister of Health, Karina Rando. But the desperate measure cannot be sustained in the long term.

Since the end of last April, OSE has been mixing the fresh water from Paso Severino with that which comes from sources near the Río de la Plata, which is more brackish because it comes from the estuary. However, the change in the taste of the liquid is evident.

“It’s very salty and sometimes it’s quite cloudy in color. It’s edible,” Marcelo Fernández, a 43-year-old employee at a shopping center, told AFP.

Anger over water shortages has sparked multiple protests on the streets of the capital, where banners and graffiti read: “There is no drought, only looting” or “looting is salty.”

There are those who point to agribusiness as partly to blame for Uruguay’s water problems. This is underlined by Federico Kreimerman, an OSE union leader, who adds that the water from the Santa Lucía river is diverted to private reservoirs for irrigation.

“The proportion of water for human consumption is small (…) Agribusiness entrepreneurs dam the river and use it for themselves,” says Kreimerman.

‘If it doesn’t rain in the next few days, there will be no drinking water’

This situation has led many to choose to pay for bottled water. That alternative has exploded, but not everyone can afford the potable resource that used to be available at a tap and is now becoming a luxury.

“It’s something urgent to solve, especially for people who don’t have the resources to buy bottled water,” says Romina Maciel, a 33-year-old history student in Montevideo.

The water “comes out more and more salty, so you can’t drink it, but you’re thirsty and then you need to drink it,” says Natalia Moreira, a 33-year-old housewife who lives in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital, who has that both she and her children have been suffering from stomach aches.

“It’s horrible. You can’t drink it,” agrees Adrian Díaz, a teacher who buys two or three 6.5-liter bottles of water every two weeks. “My wife has hypertension, so it is impossible for her to drink this water because of the amount of salt it has”, he explains.

The emergency is clear. Montevideo and the metropolitan area, where close to two million people live, could be left without drinkable water in the tap, as a consequence of the persistent water crisis.

The president of the country, Luis Lacalle Pouacknowledged the seriousness of the situation by pointing out that if it does not rain in the next few days “there will be a period in which the water is not drinkable.”

“We are trying to manage the reserves we have as best as possible and doing a work that will take 30 days”assured the president.

Earlier this month, the Uruguayan government declared a water emergency, exempting bottled water from taxes and ordering the construction of a new reservoir.

The authorities are also trying to alleviate the crisis by distributing drinking water to vulnerable groups such as schools, nursing homes and hospitals, according to the undersecretary of the environment ministry, Gerardo Amarilla.

But given the magnitude of the problem, the measures seem insufficient.

“The issue is real (…) It is complicated, especially for the lower classes,” emphasized Frank Lampariello, who lives on the outskirts of Montevideo.

This is a country that until recently has always been able to drink the water that comes out of its taps safely, unlike other countries in Latin America. Today that scenario is becoming in the past.

With Reuters, AFP, AP and local media