Authorities drawing up plan to prevent floods, store rainwater - Uruguay
Authorities drawing up plan to prevent floods, store rainwater - Uruguay
Saturday, November 21, 2009
(BNamericas.com) - Uruguayan state-owned entities are working together on a plan to prevent floods and store rainwater to combat drought, an official from the country's public works and transport ministry (MTOP) told BNamericas.
MTOP, state-owned water utility OSE, the housing and environment ministry and the livestock and agriculture ministry are some of the entities involved in the process to develop an integrated plan, the official said.
Rainfall patterns in the Southern Cone have suffered considerable changes in the last decade and authorities must take action given the importance of water on the nation's productivity.
"One solution being analyzed is to build rainwater drainage systems that can store the rain so that farmers can use these resources to irrigate their land," the official said.
Rainfall in Uruguay used to guarantee enough water for human consumption, irrigation and industrial use, but authorities are now faced with the challenge of educating the population on the proper use of water resources in order to reduce the impact of drought.
One of the sectors most affected by the changing climate is cattle raising, as farmers rely on rainfall to irrigate pastures to feed the cows.
Landowners and authorities have been discussing alternatives to store rainwater and implement irrigation technology since last year.
The main problem faced by Uruguay is that while rains have become less frequent, they have also become more intense, so citizens often face long periods of drought and are then hit by a few days of heavy storms, leading to floods.
Earlier this week, the country's northwestern department Salto suffered flooding after 70mm of rain fell in only three hours....
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