Uruguay faces its worst drought in 74 years. And an unusual protagonist has slipped into his race for water: Google

Uruguayans need water. Google too. The problem is that both need it in the same space and are affected by an identical problem: the alarming scarcity of water suffered by the Eastern Republic, immersed in its worst drought in the last 74 years. So critical is the situation that the country has had to declare a state of “water emergency” in Montevideo and reinforce the supply with water from the Río de la Plata Estuary, which has led to complaints about its brackish taste. With such a backdrop, Uruguayans have not hesitated to take to the streets and question the liters that are allocated to transnational companies and agribusiness, and to remember the volume of water that Google would need for the new data center that it plans in the Canelones area, in the south of the country.

The controversy is served.

What is the situation in Uruguay? Criticism. At the end of 2022 the Government decreed a agricultural emergency and a month ago water emergency for Montevideo and its metropolitan area, a decision that was accompanied by the announcement of extra measures: tax exemptions for water and the construction in almost record time of a dam on the San José River. The decision came after more than seven months of drought and with the dam of Severine Pass, key to the capital region, low lows. On July 11, in the Paso Severino reservoir, there were in fact 2.09 million m3which is barely 3.1% of its capacity.

NASA itself has come to echo the situation, which a few days ago shelled out some dataafter warning that two fundamental reservoirs for Montevideo and its area, Canelón Grande and Paso Severino, “had dried up almost completely”: “By June 28, it was estimated that Paso Severino contained only 2.4% of its capacity 67 million m3. Increasingly salty water came out of household taps and the government implemented emergency actions.”

Images shared by NASA and showing the situation of the reservoir on June 2, 2022.

Images shared by NASA and showing the situation of the reservoir on June 13, 2023.

Are more figures handled? Of course. The crisis has eased slightly thanks to the rains in recent days, which have allowed the water reserves of Paso Severino to increase from 1.5 million m3, a figure that was set on Saturday, to something more than 5 million. Despite this improvement, the general scenario remains resounding: the reserve remains far from the levels of November 2022 and the country has been talking for months about the most alarming water crisis in decades.

How exceptional is the situation? “Uruguay is going through the worst water deficit for 74 years”, recognized in may the secretary of the presidency, Álvaro Delgado. To stand up to him, the authorities have not only decreed emergency measures: over the last few months they have also announced the infrastructure reinforcementguaranteeing the supply of the vulnerable population —with two liters a day free for 21,000 people– or what they would build a new dam and they would take over a desalination plant and use another osmosis plant.

In an effort to combat scarcity, the OSE (State Sanitary Works) built a dam in Belastiquí, an emergency dike to ensure a stable level in Aguas Corrientes. The problem, as detailed in Guardian either France24is that the supply comes from the Río de la Plata estuary, where fresh water mixes with sea water and ends up affecting its taste.

What do Uruguayans think? Recently, reporters from AFP News Agency spoke with Isabel Moreira, a 73-year-old woman from Montevideo who has been forced to use bottled water to prepare herbal teas. “When you brush your teeth it’s horrible, you can taste the salt water, it’s disgusting!” she laments. She is not the only one who criticizes the situation. “Tap water is practically undrinkable. There are about 500,000 people who cannot afford to buy bottled water,” relates to Guardian Carmen Sosa, from the Commission for the Defense of Water and Life. The Ministry of Public Health has even had to to approve to the supply of water with levels of sodium and chlorides that exceed those normally provided for in the regulations of the metropolitan region.

After the rains of the last few days, the levels of chloride and sodium have descended in the water that comes from the Santa Lucía and La Plata rivers to feed the Paso Severino reservoir, but the Government of Uruguay itself keep advising to the population with chronic kidney disease, heart failure, cirrhosis and pregnant women who “avoid as much as possible” the consumption of OSE water. For those who meet that profile and have no other alternative, he advises them not to exceed the daily liter and “increase the frequency of blood pressure checks.”

Have there been any more complaints? Of course. Not all of the complaints are limited to the taste of the water and have been shared with newspapers. Uruguayans have also taken to the streets to criticize the management of the water crisis, such as the march that was organized in Montevideo end of may and during which a crowd blocked the 18 de Julio avenue to protest with posters and empty plastic bottles. Months before, the same artery had been the scene of another similar mobilization, organized by environmental groups, under the slogan of “It is not only drought, it is looting”.

“More than 80% of the water goes to industry, such as soybeans and wood pulp. We have had a shortage of rain, but the drought has simply shown the problems of our economic model. We cannot concentrate resources in a few hands,” argues Sosa. His complaint comes shortly after the start up from the UPM Paso de los Toros pulp mill. “Only a small proportion of the water in Uruguay is used for human consumption. Most of it is used for large agro-industries, such as soybeans, rice and wood pulp —agrees Daniel Penaresearcher of the University of the Republic (Udelar) in Montevideo. Now we have Google planning to use huge amounts of water.”

And what exactly about Google? That in this complicated, tight and extremely delicate context, Google wants to build a data center in the Canelones area, in the south of the country. The installation is planned on a 29-hectare plot. The problem is that such an infrastructure would need a daily consumption of 7.6 million liters of water to cool its servers, an amount that would supply around 55,000 people. Those are at least the figures obtained by Peña through the Ministry of the Environment and of which echoed a few days ago Guardian. The Uruguayan administration itself qualifies that the data is outdated, since the facility will be “smaller.”

What do we know about the project? Three years ago, an investment of around 100 million dollars to create a data center in the Parque de las Ciencias, in the department of Canelones, just over 20 km from the center of Montevideo. The project would have been submitted to environmental evaluation that same year and would initially include the construction of an electrical substation, an administrative building and a possible water treatment plant.

In May, however, BNamericas pointed out that the company was considering reformulating its project due to the controversy unleashed for the volume of water that it would supposedly need for its operations. “The project is still in an exploratory phase and Google’s technical team is actively working with the support of national and local authorities,” explained the company.

“We hope that the preliminary figures, such as projected water consumption, will undergo adjustments —underline from the company. At Google, sustainability is at the center of everything we do, and the way we design and manage our data centers is no exception. Grief.

Cover image: Jimmy Baikovicius (Flickr)

In Xataka: In its relentless fight against drought, MIT has stumbled upon an unexpected technology: baby diapers.