Acquiring a desalination plant designed by UTEC, using a UTE osmosis plant and setting up an OSE bottling plant for sachets of water are some of the measures announced.
In addition, a dam will be built to guarantee the stability of the Paso Severino dam, repairs to losses in the network will be expedited and tariff aspects are being studied, indicated the secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado.
During the conference to make the announcements on the night of this Tuesday the 16th, in Torre Ejecutiva, Delgado was accompanied by the Ministers of Social Development, Martín Lema; Public Health, Karina Rando, and Environment, Robert Bouvier.
The Ministers of Economy and Finance, Azucena Arbeleche; and of Transport and Public Works, José Luis Falero; together with the director of the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP), Isaac Alfie; the undersecretaries of Public Health, José Luis Satdjian; Social Development, Andrea Brugman, and Environment, Gerardo Amarilla; and the presidents of the Congress of Mayors, Fernando Echeverría, and of OSE, Raúl Montero, in addition to the vice president of that organization, Susana Montaner.
“Uruguay is going through the worst water deficit for 74 years,” he said, and announced a set of measures that ensure the current quality of the resource, suitable for human consumption and the essential aspects of life.
In the first place, the stability of the water reserves will be ensured. For this, a dam will be built that will maintain the stability of Paso Severino. According to the hierarch, “it will allow us to maintain the status and quality of water that we have today.”
Meanwhile, the Government will acquire a desalination plant, designed by the Technological University (UTEC), which will be operational next week, and will guarantee better quality.
In addition, through an agreement between OSE and the Congress of Mayors, work will be done to expedite the repairs of losses in pipe networks. A quick repair is sought to dispose of that water that is lost today, he explained.
Likewise, the Government evaluates, together with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, tariff aspects that encourage responsible use. In this sense, Delgado appealed to citizens for caution and reported that the responsibility of the people “contributed to 10% water savings.”
Another of the actions will involve the use of UTE’s Punta del Tigre plant, in the department of San José, to desalinate water through the process known as reverse osmosis and allocate it to distribution in the metropolitan area.
OSE, meanwhile, will set up a plant for the production of sachets of water as a way of facilitating its distribution to the most vulnerable population.
Likewise, bottled water prices will be monitored and the necessary operations will be implemented for a possible importation, if necessary, Delgado said.
The Secretary of the Presidency recalled that both the early childhood care centers (CAIF) throughout the country, the Institute for Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU), and the 467 schools in the metropolitan area today have access to quality bottled water optimal.
He also reiterated the measures implemented by the Ministry of Social Development, which guarantee access to two liters per day, per person, to pregnant women, children under 0 to 2 years of age, and the chronically ill, as well as to patients of the National Resource Fund. .
The Government is working on an alternative plan for a safe and inexhaustible supply of drinking water, such as the Arazatí project, with an investment of 250,000,000 dollars, he explained.
And he added that it will be complemented by the tender to carry out the sanitation in 61 localities, which will mean an amount of 284,000,000 dollars. “These works are the largest investment by the OSE in 150 years,” Delgado stressed.
At the end, he stressed the importance of “giving peace of mind to the population.” “The water supply will be maintained in current conditions until the rain arrives to change the contingency,” he said.
