Uruguay, which has been facing a drought for several years and high temperatures, is running out of water.
The situation has become so severe that residents are forced to drink salty water from the tap, and workers are drilling wells in the capital city to access groundwater. President Luis Lacalle Pou declared a “water emergency for the metropolitan area” on Monday.
This situation is causing shock in this relatively prosperous South American nation, which has long considered access to water as a human right. It is also a warning sign of the vulnerability of countries to drought, which is expected to become more frequent and intense as climate change accelerates.
The impacts in Uruguay are evident. Canelón Grande, a vital reservoir that usually supplies water to over a million people in the country’s capital, Montevideo, has been reduced to a muddy field that locals can now cross on foot.
Low water levels in the Canelón Grande reservoir on March 13, 2023.
Another reservoir, Paso Severino, which normally provides drinking water to 60% of the country’s population, has experienced the largest decrease in water levels ever recorded. According to local media reports, water levels could be completely depleted by early July.
In response, authorities have been forced to take a series of drastic measures due to the scarcity.
Tap water in Montevideo is practically non-potable, according to Carlos Santos, a member of the National Commission for the Defense of Water and Life (CNDAV) and anthropology professor at the University of the Republic of Uruguay.
“It is unbearable due to salinity.” “Even pets avoid it.”
For weeks, the public water company, OSE, has been mixing salty water from the Río de la Plata estuary with fresh water from the Paso Severino reservoir to stretch supplies, after requesting an exception to the usual salinity standards for drinking water.
In addition to having a salty taste, Uruguayan authorities claim that tap water also has high levels of chlorides, sodium, and trihalomethanes.
According to the Minister of Public Health, Karina Rando, there is no health risk for the majority of people, but she recommended that those with certain health conditions such as hypertension and kidney disease, as well as pregnant women, limit or even completely avoid tap water consumption.
President Lacalle Pou said on Monday that “the water supply is guaranteed,” but that chloride and sodium levels in the water “will surely increase,” which, according to health criteria, means it will no longer be considered potable.
Sales of bottled water have increased significantly in Montevideo and the neighboring Canelones department, registering a 224% increase in May compared to the same period last year, according to a report by the research company Scanntech Uruguay.
This has led to retail groups struggling to meet demand and has resulted in an increase in plastic waste.
However, many residents of Montevideo and its surroundings cannot afford to buy bottled water and are forced to continue drinking from the tap, according to Santos.
To try to alleviate some of the financial pressure, the government has introduced tax exemptions for bottled water as part of its water emergency measures.
The situation is shocking for residents of one of the richest countries in South America and one that has a special relationship with water.
Uruguay claims to be the first country in the world to enshrine access to water as a fundamental right in a constitutional amendment in 2004. The amendment, which garnered support from across the political spectrum, was approved by over 60% of voters in a referendum.
The water shortage has mobilized people in the country in a new way, according to Santos. The capital has been the scene of numerous street protests.
People protesting against higher levels of salt in tap water in Montevideo on May 15, 2023.
“There is something fundamental that Uruguayans really feel and it is a connection with water,” Santos said. “The anger that people are showing now shows it. It’s not about rejecting this government, it’s about reclaiming a basic right.”
Meanwhile, the government has claimed that it has been taking measures to address the problem.
On Monday, Lacalle Pou announced the construction of a dam and a new water distribution system on the San José River, which will provide an alternative water source once construction is completed in 30 days.
People have been asked not to wash their cars or water their gardens, and tanker trucks have been used to supply water to key institutions such as hospitals.
The search for water has even reached the center of Montevideo, where workers have dug wells in Parque Batlle, known as the “lungs of the city,” to find alternative water sources, according to local media reports.
But some accuse the government of not doing enough. According to Santos, Uruguay has long-standing problems with water management. “The drought is a problem that is worsening the situation, but there is a historical problem with the irrational use of water that has led us here,” he said.
Daniel Panario, director of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Republic, said the government is only now implementing measures suggested by scientists in February.
“We needed to be better prepared for an increasingly unpredictable climate,” he said.
Panario recounted a conversation with a farmer who told him that it now “rains worse” than before, instead of more or less. “It rains more concentrated… it causes floods, and then there are long periods of drought,” he said.
In May, Lacalle Pou told reporters that “the moment is complex, we must accept it and assume responsibility,” but rejected claims that his government had not done enough to address the crisis.
Uruguay is not the only country in Latin America suffering from drought. Argentina, its neighbor, is grappling with the worst drought in decades, with serious impacts on agriculture.
While scientists found that the primary cause of the drought in Uruguay and Argentina was not the climate crisis, they said that climate change has worsened the impacts due to increased extreme heat.
“Climate change is definitely playing a role in the high temperatures that Argentina and other countries in the region are currently experiencing,” said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist and co-leader of the World Weather Attribution initiative, in a statement.
Miguel Doria, a hydrologist from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Montevideo, said the country needs to change its relationship with water.
Uruguay “has a cultural connection with water,” said Doria, who added that there used to be a perception that water did not need to be conserved as it was almost infinite. “What is really needed is a cultural change,” he said. “This is an opportunity for change, for adaptation.”
Gerardo Amarilla, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment of Uruguay, said at a United Nations water forum on June 9 that the country needs to value water as a resource and recognize that we live in a world with a changing climate.
In addition to changing perceptions, Doria said Uruguay could increase the amount of available water by building new infrastructure such as dams and upgrading outdated water distribution systems to improve efficiency.