MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Water transfer pipeline operational in Uruguay to fight drough

“We have some peace of mind for a month and a half or two if it does not rain,” President Luis Lacalle Pou said

Water began being transferred from the San José River dam to the Aguas Corrientes area of the Santa Lucía River in a move to alleviate the drinking water supply to the Uruguayan capital, it was reported in Montevideo. The works carried out in record time are expected to result in lower salinity in the metropolitan area.

The state-run water company OSE also explained the new undertaking worth US$ 35 million seeks to become “an additional Paso Severino” freshwater source to not depend on the Santa Lucía, whose flow has decreased as a result of an extreme drought since last year which brought OSE's reserves in Paso Severino to almost zero. With rains in June and July, the reservoir increased but remains far from the usual maximum of 67 million cubic meters.

According to OSE, the two pumps already active provide a “flow of 2,000 cubic meters per hour of fresh water reinforcement to Aguas Corrientes' drinking water treatment process.”

The works involved the construction of 13.5 kilometers of a transfer pipeline that connects the catchment and pumping from the San José River to Paso Belastiquí on the Santa Lucía River, thus increasing “the source of fresh water from the Santa Lucía Grande and Paso Severino rivers, mixing with the water stored in the Paso Belastiquí reservoir, ensuring an important flow of raw water to be supplied to the Aguas Corrientes power plant,” OSE said in a statement.

“With Paso Severino and the water diversion, we have some peace of mind for a month and a half or two if it does not rain, with good quality water,” President Luis Lacalle Pou said Friday.