Water supply and sanitation in Uruguay

Uruguay is the only country in Latin America that has achieved quasi-universal coverage of access to safe drinking water supply[1] and adequate sanitation.[2] Water service quality is considered good, with practically all localities in Uruguay receiving disinfected water on a continuous basis. 70% of wastewater collected by the national utility was treated. Given these achievements, the government's priority is to improve the efficiency of services and to expand access to sewerage, where appropriate, in areas where on-site sanitation is used.

Not to be confused with Water resources management in Uruguay.
Uruguay: Water and Sanitation
Data
Water coverage (broad definition) 100%
Sanitation coverage (broad definition) 100%
Continuity of supply (%) 100%
Average urban water use (liter/capita/day) 183
Average urban water and sewer bill US$ 22/month (2007)
Share of household metering 93%
Share of collected wastewater treated n/a
Annual investment in water supply and sanitation n/a
Share of self-financing by utilities nil
Share of tax-financing n/a
Share of external financing n/a
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities No
National water and sanitation company Yes
Water and sanitation regulator Yes, multi-sector
Responsibility for policy setting Ministry of Housing, Land Management and Environment
Sector law No
Number of urban service providers 1
Number of rural service providers n/a

The stability of the water supply in Uruguay was severely challenged by a three year drought culminating in a water crises in 2022-2023.[3] The La Niña driven cycle of drought, amplified by increased heatwaves caused by climate change meant that overuse of water by consumers stressed capacity of the system, leading to use of saltwater in drinking water.[3][4]

Access

Water and sanitation coverage in Uruguay (2004)

Urban (93% of the population) Rural (7% of the population) Total
Water Broad definition 100% 100% 100%
House connections 97% 84% 96%
Sanitation Broad definition 100% 99% 100%
Sewerage 81% 42% 78%

Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP/2006). Data for water and sanitation based on the WHO World Health Survey (2003).

Water use

Per capita water production is high at 411 liter/capita/day (90.4 Imperial gallons/c/d, 108.6 US gallons/c/d). Even after taking into account non-revenue water of 54%, at 183 liter/capita/day (40.3 Imperial gallons/c/d, 48.3 US gallons/c/d) it is still higher than in many European countries. However, water use is much lower than in neighboring Argentina, where metering is not widespread, while in Uruguay 96% of water connections were metered in 2004.[5]

History and recent developments
Source: CIA World Factbook

Like many other developing countries Uruguay sought private sector participation in water supply and sanitation to improve efficiency and service quality. This was done through two concessions for secondary cities in the department of Maldonado, home to many tourist resorts and the town Punta del Este. The first concession was granted in 1993 to Aguas de la Costa, a Uruguayan firm which later became majority-owned by Aguas de Barcelona, itself a subsidiary of the French firm Suez. The second concession was granted in 2000 to URAGUA, a subsidiary of Aguas de Bilboa of Spain.

To complement the policy of private sector participation, the government created in 2002 the utility regulatory agency URSEA covering the power and water sector.

Nevertheless, the private concessions remained contentious. Following a vigorous campaign against them and allegations of overcharging and poor service quality, Parliament passed a constitutional amendment in October 2004 prohibiting any form of private sector participation in the water sector. As a result, the concession of URAGUA was withdrawn in the same year.[6]

In 2005 the government passed law 17.930 with the objective of improving the effective participation of users and civil society in planning, management and control of activities in the sector. For that purpose the law established a water and sanitation directorate (DINASA) in the Ministry of Housing and Environment, as well as a Water and Sanitation Advisory Commission (COASAS).

Meanwhile, the Uruguayan and foreign owners of Aguas de la Costa refused to yield to demands for nationalization. In 2006 the government bought the shares held by Aguas de Barcelona. From then on the enterprise operated as a mixed public-private enterprise with a majority public shareholding.[7] In 2009 the company became 100% owned by the state.[8]

2022-2023 crises
This section is an excerpt from 2022-2023 Uruguay drought.[edit]
Canelón Grande Dam during the drought.
Protests in May 2023 in Montevideo due to the situation of increased salinity in drinking water caused by low freshwater reserves.

The drought or water crises in Uruguay from 2022 to 2023 has been attributed to the La Niña phenomenon,[9] which was further exacerbated by the effects of climate change, including rising temperatures.[10][11] The crises resulted in significant impacts on the local economy, and large portions of the population not having access to clean, drinkable water.

While the drought began in 2018,[12] the situation significantly deteriorated in early 2023,[13] affecting more than 60% of Uruguay's territory with extreme or severe drought conditions between October 2022 and February 2023.[14] Precipitation during this period was below average.[15] This prolonged drought led to agricultural losses exceeding $1 billion[16] and complications in the availability of drinking water.[17] By the end of January 2023, before the water crisis in the metropolitan area, the drought had already impacted 75,000 people across five departments in the country's interior.[18][19]

To address this crisis, the national government declared a state of agricultural emergency in October 2022, extending until the end of April 2023.[20][21] The drought resulted in reduced access to drinking water and financial losses for agricultural producers.[22][23] Following a lack of reduction of water usage and a lack of projected rainfall, the national water management authority started using saltwater in municipal water supply for 60% of the population in May 2023.[24][25] The water had twice the level of salinity recommend by WHO.[24][25]

Responsibility for water supply and sanitation

The state-owned national utility, Administración de las Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE) provides water and sewer services to all of Uruguay with the exception of Montevideo, where the municipality provides sewerage and OSE provides water services only. OSE serves 330 localities with 2.8 million inhabitants with water services and 152 localities with 0.5 million inhabitants with sewer services. It had 4,362 employees in 2004.

To enhance sector performance, new institutions have been recently established, including the Regulatory Entity for Energy and Water (URSEA); the National Directorate of Water and Sanitation (DINASA) in the Ministry of Housing, Land Management and Environment, responsible for creating national sector policies on WSS; and the Advisory Commission on Water and Sanitation (COASAS).

The government of Uruguay intends to establish a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for the water supply and sanitation sector through a new law. It also plans to develop a policy on appropriate sanitation standards and to further improve the efficiency of OSE by stimulating internal competition and reducing unaccounted for water. Concerning internal competition, OSE has introduced an internal benchmarking system comparing the utility's performance across 21 cities based on 9 service quality indicators.

Economic efficiency

Between 1999 and 2005 OSE successfully increased labor productivity from 5.6 employees/1000 connections to 4.5, decreased operating costs from US$0.98/m3 (US$0.75/cu yd) to US$0.71/m3 (US$0.54/cu yd); and increased operating margins from 35% to 42%. However, OSE's performance continues to present areas of inefficiency. Reducing unaccounted for water, which remains around 54%, will continue to require a concerted effort.

Financial aspects

Tariffs and affordability

Water and sewer tariffs charged by OSE differ depending on the category of users, with lower tariffs for residential users than for other users (commercial, industrial, official and public enterprises). Water and sewer tariffs in Uruguay have increased substantially since 1995. For example, a typical residential water bill (20 m3/month, 700 cu ft/month) for OSE consumers increased from the equivalent of 56 pesos/month (US$9.50) in 1995 to 207 pesos/month (US$18.20) in 2001, a 93% increase in US dollar terms in six years. Tariffs were further increased so that a typical residential bill reached 431 pesos/month in 2003. But due to the massive devaluation of 2001 the US dollar equivalent of the monthly bill decreased to US$15/month.[26] In 2007 a monthly residential water bill was estimated to be at least 568 pesos, equivalent to more than US$22/month.[27]

Given that the average monthly income of a household in the two lowest-income quintiles (a lower-middle income family) was about the equivalent of US$190 in 2003, water and sewer tariffs accounted for almost 8% of their income, an extraordinarily high percentage, which has probably further increased since then.[28]

Spending of OSE per capita from 1990 to 2005 in constant US dollars of 2006[29]

Investments and financing

The national water and sewer company Administración de las Obras Sanitarias del Estado (OSE), created in 1952, does not receive direct subsidies from the government.[30] OSE finances its investments from internal revenues and loans. However, OSE's financial health had been in decline during the 1990s and early 2000 due to high levels of operational inefficiency, thereby threatening OSE's ability to carry out future required investments. OSE's operating performance and financial health have since begun improving.

The total expenditure of OSE between 1990 and 2005 was US$797 million, which is on annual average 0.24% of the Uruguayan GDP or US$15.3 per capita. The annual investment was highest at the end of the 1990s, reaching US$30.8 in 1996 and US$31.2 per capita in 1999. Since 2001, it fell back to only US$5.1 per capita in 2003.[31] The average annual investment per capita between 1997 and 2003 was higher than in other Latin American countries like Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Mexico.[32]

External support

World Bank

References
  1. Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) Uruguay Water Supply
  2. Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) Uruguay Sanitation)
  3. Simon, Maite Fernández (2023-05-30). "Uruguay, hot and dry, adds salt water to public drinking supply". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  4. Atalayar (2023-02-23). "Climate change is not responsible for drought in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, but it does exacerbate water scarcity". Atalayar. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  5. OSE:Benchmarking
  6. Radio Mundo Real (broken link)
  7. (in Spanish) Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay: Suez se retira de Uruguay; el gobierno sigue jugando al filo de la Constitución, 17 February 2006
  8. (in Spanish) OSE Noticias: Cumplimento de Reforma Constitucional - OSE toma el control del cien por cien de los servicios de agua potable, 3 November 2009
  9. "La Niña: el fenómeno detrás del déficit hídrico de Uruguay y la región". EL PAIS. 2023-02-14. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  10. "La crisis climática impulsa las altas temperaturas, pero no la sequía en Argentina y Uruguay". Infobae (in Spanish). 2023-02-16. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  11. Camila Méndez (2023-02-21). "Sequía en Uruguay y Argentina no fue causada por el cambio climático, aunque las altas temperaturas sí empeoraron los impactos". la diaria (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  12. "Uruguay: Droughts - January 2023, DREF Application (MDRUY004) - Uruguay | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  13. "Uruguay: Drought - Jan 2023 | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  14. "Agricultural emergency, triggered by drought, extended for another 90 days in Uruguay". MercoPress. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  15. authors, TW The Watchers- (2023-02-03). "Uruguay's agricultural emergency persists as drought conditions intensify in 2023". The Watchers. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  16. "Drought causes over $1bn production losses in Uruguay - Agriculture News Network". 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  17. "Drought in Uruguay complicates drinking water supply - Prensa Latina". 2023-02-10. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  18. "Uruguay: Drought - Jan 2023 | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  19. authors, TW The Watchers- (2023-02-03). "Uruguay's agricultural emergency persists as drought conditions intensify in 2023". The Watchers. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  20. "Uruguay: Drought - Jan 2023 | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  21. "Agricultural emergency, triggered by drought, extended for another 90 days in Uruguay". MercoPress. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  22. authors, TW The Watchers- (2023-02-03). "Uruguay's agricultural emergency persists as drought conditions intensify in 2023". The Watchers. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  23. "Drought in Uruguay complicates drinking water supply - Prensa Latina". 2023-02-10. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  24. "Salt Water Comes Out Of The Taps In Uruguay". nationworldnews.com. 2023-05-17. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  25. Millward, David (2023-05-30). "Uruguay's tap water becomes too difficult to swallow". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  26. Peso water bills are from (in Spanish) Asociación de Entes Reguladores de Agua Potable y Saneamiento de las Américas (ADERASA): Las tarifas de agua potable y alcantarillado en América Latina, p. 66; historic exchange rates to calculate US dollar tariff equivalents are from www.oanda.org
  27. Calculated based on OSE tariffs assuming the smallest connection (11mm, 0.43 in) and a unit tariff of 13.07 peso/m3, which applies for consumption below 20 m3/month (700 cu ft/month), according to (in Spanish) URSEA: OSE 2004 tariffs
  28. income from (in Spanish) Asociación de Entes Reguladores de Agua Potable y Saneamiento de las Américas (ADERASA) Las tarifas de agua potable y alcantarillado en América Latina, p. 70
  29. Source: Obras Sanitarias del Estado; Data on population and deflators: World Bank World Development Indicators database
  30. (in Spanish) Organización Mundial de Salud (OMS): Evaluación de los Servicios de Agua Potable y Saneamiento 2000 en las América, Chapter 3.2
  31. All figures in constant 2006 US dollars
  32. See: Investment in water supply and sanitation in Latin America.
  • (in Spanish) Organización Mundial de Salud (OMS): Evaluación de los Servicios de Agua Potable y Saneamiento 2000 en las Américas Uruguay
  • (in Spanish) Site of the national water and sewer utility OSE
  • (in Spanish) Site of the national multi-sector regulatory agency URSEA


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