On May 12, Uruguay’s National Sanitary Engineering Administration, which is in charge of national water supply affairs, issued an announcement saying that it will launch a 30-day emergency water supply measure to deal with the shortage of drinking water for residents caused by the severe drought in the country.
The announcement pointed out that the rare drought suffered by Uruguay in the past century is intensifying, causing serious losses to agriculture, animal husbandry and the national economy. water supply in densely populated areas. To this end, the Uruguayan government will provide free 2 liters of drinking water per day to special groups such as pregnant women, children, the elderly, and patients living in the above-mentioned areas within the next 30 days, and will consider whether to continue to extend this measure or not depending on the water supply situation. Expand the scope of assistance.
According to a report released by the National Meteorological Institute of Uruguay on the 12th, affected by the La Nina phenomenon, Uruguay and other South American countries have experienced continuous high temperature and little rain since 2019, causing large-scale drought disasters. Since the second half of last year, the drought in Uruguay has continued to intensify, forming the worst drought in nearly a century. The report pointed out that in the second half of this year, the La Niña phenomenon in South America will be replaced by the El Niño phenomenon, and the precipitation will increase. By then, the drought in Uruguay is expected to be eased.
According to the forecast report of the Uruguayan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, in 2023, Uruguayan agriculture will cause direct economic losses of 1.8 billion U.S. dollars (about 12.525 billion yuan) due to drought.