The rains and the development of public works appease the drought in Uruguay

The arrival of the rainyalthough intermittently, together with the development of infrastructure works by the Government have allowed Uruguay appease the worst drought of which there is a record in that country which, according to official figures and forecasts, is constantly improving.

“We cannot claim victory, it has to rain”assured the Uruguayan president, Luis Lacalle Pou, in July after registering a slight improvement in the country’s main reservoir, the Paso Severino reservoir, despite the fact that it is still far from the levels of freshwater reserves.

However, there is tranquility in the South American country since the levels of recovery have been increasing consistently to which are added the forecasts of abundant rainfall starting in the second half of August.

Let’s do it

A desalination plant and the installation of a pumping station from one of the main rivers in the country are two of the main works that the Government of Lacalle Pou announced, among others, as measures to alleviate the drought and that are already operational.

The desalination plant arrived in the South American country on July 27 from the United States to be installed in the city of Salinas in the department of Canelones (south).

After its commissioning, the plant guarantees a processing capacity of 300,000 liters and to make 150,000 liters drinkable per day, which will be used to supply the metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, on August 10, the pumping station announced by the Government in June was inaugurated and allows the transfer of water from the San José River (southwest) to the Aguas Corrientes water treatment plant located in the city of Belastiquí (south ) that supplies the departments of Montevideo and Canelones.

It is a pumping station that has a flow of 2,000 cubic meters per hour to reinforce fresh water to the purification process at the Aguas Corrientes plant, according to data provided by the technical deputy manager of the state-owned company Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE). ), Jorge Minola.

In turn, authorities from the Chamber of Construction of Uruguay reported that with the pumping flow of the inaugurated station, it will be possible to supply water to some 150,000 people.

waiting for the rains

The lack of rainfall has plagued Uruguay since 2020, although it was in 2022 when the situation worsened during the southern summer season, in which the Paso Severino reservoir decreased its reserves until it reached 900,000 cubic meters of water in a six-month period with a capacity of 67,000,000.

However, the rains have arrived, albeit intermittently, which has allowed the recovery of the reservoir, which currently holds some 11,395,187 cubic meters of water according to the daily report of OSE.

Meanwhile, the Uruguayan National Institute of Meteorology (Inumet) forecasts high temperatures, atypical of the southern winter season, during the week in a large part of the national territory that will precede the entry of a cold front that will bring an estimated 50 millimeters of rainfall on average.

Inumet adviser Mario Bidegain quoted the National Institute of Meteorology of Brazil that forecasts rains for the next seven days with accumulated values ​​between 30 and 80 millimeters on the southeast coast of the province of Buenos Aires and on the south of Uruguay.

On June 19, the Government of Uruguay decreed a water emergency in the metropolitan area. By the end of 2022, an agricultural emergency had already been decreed for livestock, dairy, horticulture, fruit growing and agriculture due to a prolonged drought.

This last decision was accompanied by various measures such as the delivery of money for the purchase of water to certain groups of vulnerable sectors and tax exemption for bottled water.

This led to a 6.25-liter drum of water going from costing 129 Uruguayan pesos (3.27 dollars) to 89 Uruguayan pesos (2.25 dollars).

Source: EFE