Montevideo and its metropolitan area are days away from running out of water reserves. The water crisis is also hitting the local industry, with production hindered by the lack of drinking water and the high levels of salinity in the one currently being distributed by the state water company OSE. The CIU published a poll on contingency plans in factories a month ago, revealing that 69% of companies using OSE water didn’t have an alternative plan in the face of water supply restrictions or service interruption. Of those companies, the poll revealed that 78% would be forced to shut down production if the OSE water supply was affected. The first publicly resonant case so far Frigorífico Canelones meatpacker, which decided to stop production in late June and send 700 workers to collect unemployment insurance.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald July 06, 2023 03:41 UTC