In recent days, in Uruguay, but mainly in Montevideo and the metropolitan area, an unusual situation has been taking place. The water deficit, which has been dragging on for three years and which meteorological agencies project will spread, caused a drop in the water levels of the reservoirs from which SBI He took out the fresh water to make it drinkable.
The situation generated that OSE had to resort to other reservoirs and increase the salinity allowed. That is, the water that comes out of the faucets tastes salty, at least in Montevideo and the metropolitan area.
How did this come about and why does the water come out saltier? Montevideo and Canelones consume about 650 thousand meters cubics of water per day and in normal times 100% of the water is supplied from the dam Severine Passa reservoir on the small Santa Lucía River.
Then, the other two points where it is also taken is from what it brings the large Santa Lucía river that joins the small Santa Lucía riverat the mouth, and what is transferred from downstream of the Aguas Corrientes damwhich is a part of the Santa Lucía that is between Aguas Corrientes and the mouth of the Río de la Plata.
Given the drought, Paso Severino is below its usual cubic meters. So OSE, to get to the 650 thousand cubic meters, you get 361 thousand of Paso Severino and 55 thousand of the Santa Lucia Grande.
How do you get the rest? The 234 thousand cubic meters that are missing are being obtained from the Aguas Corrientes dam, where there is water with higher salinity than in the other reservoirs.
Increasing what OSE obtains from Aguas Corrientes is what explains why the tap water is saltier. To ensure that running water did not run out, the utility had to increase the allowable chloride and sodium limits. of the limits of 200mg/L for sodium and 280mg/L for chlorides, it was passed to values of 400mg/L of sodium and 700mmg/L of chlorides.
With this increase, the Ministry of Public Health recommends not consuming more than one liter per day for hypertensive patients, as well as the Municipality of Montevideo will also carry out actions to lower the cost of bottled water for certain users.
