Paraguayan authorities expressed their concern Thursday given the dramatic drought causing social, economic, and environmental devastation in the region of Chaco, which is also affecting parts of neighboring Bolivia, it was reported.
According to reports released in Brazil Tuesday, the Solimões River has dried up and has become a desert while the Negro River in Manaus has reached historic levels of drought and nearing figures similar to those recorded during the Oct. 2010 crisis.
The Central Bank of Uruguay has unveiled concerning economic data, revealing a 2.5% year-on-year decline in the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second semester of 2023. The figures, released on Thursday, shed light on the adverse effects of the drought on Uruguay's economic landscape.
The Association of Indigenous Peoples Conservationists (Asociación de Pueblos Originarios Conservacionistas - APOC) insisted this week that an emergency be declared in Lake Titicaca, which they claimed was suffering from water stress, meaning that water demand exceeds the amount available.
Global shipping has been urged to share transit plans at one of the world’s key maritime crossings following on Panama Canal Authority officials warning that water-conserving restrictions will be in place for at least the next 10 months, given this year's unprecedented drought which Panama is experiencing.
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.
Uruguayan authorities Thursday confirmed the arrival in Montevideo of a desalination plant bought in the United States to fight the water crisis hitting the country. The piece of equipment was expected to take about four weeks to be delivered from Houston, but in the end, it was over two months.
Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou Monday said his country would be accepting Argentina's help to mitigate the water crisis but added that the amount of drinking water offered was nowhere near the needs to match the volumes consumed normally in Montevideo.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández offered his Uruguayan colleague Luis Lacalle Pou a mobile water treatment plant, supplies, and personnel to assist in the drinking water crisis affecting Montevideo and the Metropolitan area.
Uruguay's Congress Wednesday unanimously approved the Water Emergency Fund to finance access to bottled water among other measures amid an unprecedented shortage of drinking water due to the drought the country is going through.