Because it has hardly rained for months, drinking water is running out in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital. Reservoirs are almost empty – without rain there is enough drinking water for three to four weeks.
A severe drought in Uruguay is increasingly threatening the drinking water supply in the metropolitan area of the capital Montevideo. The drinking water is only enough for 20 to 30 days if it doesn’t rain soon, said Mayor Carolina Cosse.
“This drought has lasted longer than the longest drought in history and climate change is taking its toll on us,” she said. “Therefore, we propose to declare a state of emergency so that we all understand the situation we are in and we all act responsibly in our daily lives.”
Reservoir almost empty
It has been raining far too little in Uruguay for months. According to the waterworks, there are still around 6.5 million cubic meters of water in the Paso Severino reservoir – less than ten percent of the capacity of 67 million cubic meters.
On Monday, residents of Montevideo protested in front of the President’s residence against the raising of the limits for chlorine and sodium in drinking water. The state water company has begun mixing brackish water from the Rio de la Plata with fresh water from the Santa Lucia River, which is used to provide drinking water for Montevideo. As a result, the drinking water for the approximately 1.3 million people in the Montevideo area tastes increasingly salty.
Protest against higher limit values: “For water, for life” is written on the sign of this demonstrator in Montevideo.
Mayor Cosse made some suggestions to address the water shortage. Among other things, washing cars should be banned and leaky water pipes repaired. Taxes on bottled water will also be reduced.
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