MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lacalle Pou decrees water emergency in Montevideo metropolitan area

Lacalle also announced bottled water would be tax-free

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou Monday announced new measures to face the water crisis after a cabinet meeting, it was reported in Montevideo.

 “We have just decreed the water emergency for the [Montevideo] metropolitan area,” which “enables us to have faster and simpler legal processes” in the works to mitigate the current situation, such as the new reservoir on the San José River, which will begin Tuesday.

Lacalle also announced bottled water would be tax-free so that prices go down in a move to help Uruguayans through the crisis. “The consumption of bottled water has doubled and in some peaks, it has multiplied fivefold,” Lacalle said.

“All the measures taken are based on the non-existence of rains; we are not talking about a week, 15 days,” he added. “We are going to keep the population informed of the quality of the water, of the supply, and ... of the days that may remain ahead of certain water,” Lacalle stressed.

Regarding the work on the San José River, which also has a planned infrastructure work with piping, Lacalle said that at “maximum” it will take 30 days. Beyond this, he assured that “the water supply will not be cut, therefore, the scenario that may result is a worse water quality” but with higher percentages of chloride and sodium. “We are evaluating with the MSP technicians how far we could take these records so that it continues to be drinkable,” said the President.

According to the OSE water company, the reservoir at the Paso Severino dam is only at 5.6% of its total capacity. “The situation continues to be very critical,” the company said. For the works to be carried out, OSE has already ordered piping supplies from Brazil and Argentina.