The MSP was responding to citizen consultations after President Luis Lacalle Pou signed a decree last week to end the water emergency that had been in effect since June due to drought.

The drought brought the water reserves at Paso Severino dam, which serves about half of Uruguay’s population, to historic lows.

To maintain supplies, the OSE mixed the brackish waters of the Río de la Plata River with that of the Santa Lucía River, which feeds the Paso Severino dam.

The Government urged vulnerable populations to purchase bottled water for drinking and eliminated taxes on that product temporarily, in addition to hydraulic investments in response to the emergency.

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