BARCELONA. Rafaella Varela open the tap and fill the glass with water.
– Now you have to enjoy the luxury, because there is only salt water available at home, he jokes. Despite the joke, he is worried.
Hailing from Uruguay, Varela is an artist and photographer. He is on a two-week tour of Europe and is currently visiting Barcelona, Spain. During the tour, the water shortage in the home country of Uruguay has worsened.
At the beginning of May, brackish water from the Rió de la Plata flowing into the Atlantic began to be mixed with the drinking water of the capital Montevideo.
– The authorities only announced the matter when the citizens noticed that the water tasted strange, Varela complains.
Now the amount of salt water may have to be increased. There is critically little fresh water stored. “You can drink the water, but it is not recommended,” was the contradictory message of the national water authority. Many people were also outraged when the deputy director of the water company urged citizens who were worried about the price of bottled water to drink less Coca Cola so that the money would be enough for bottled water.
“We pay for water we can’t drink”
“It’s not a drought, it’s a robbery”, is the slogan that the citizens have shouted in the demonstrations organized in the streets of the city.
Varela doesn’t consider himself an activist, but he too has opinions on a topic that is heating up Uruguayans right now. He blames the country’s government and the economic model based on agriculture and forestry for the water shortage.
– It is wrong that agricultural and large companies are allowed to use water for free, but the rest of us pay for water that we cannot drink.
In the video below, Varela tells what it’s like to take a shower when the water is salty:
The protesters’ signs also have slogans against the Finnish pulp company. In the midst of a historic drought, UPM opened a second pulp mill in Uruguay.
The mill, which started in April, is one of the largest single-line pulp mills in the world.
With that, pulp overtook meat as Uruguay’s most important export product.
The pulp mill consumes as much water as a city
Activists have also demonstrated in front of UPM’s new pulp mill. According to them, UPM’s factories and eucalyptus plantations take away Uruguayans’ water.
UPM’s new pulp mill consumes roughly as much water per day as a city of 55,000 inhabitants in the same period of time.
That’s what he’s heard Javier Takswho is the holder of the Unesco Water Professorship at the Universidad de la República, a state university in Montevideo.
However, according to him, UPM’s factories do not have a direct impact on the capital region’s water shortage.
– The pulp mills are located far away, and their operations do not depend on the same river as the capital’s.
According to Taksi, however, the eucalyptus plantations planted upstream of the river for the needs of the pulp industry are important. In addition to the actual plant, the trees themselves need huge amounts of water.
– It is a small plantation, but during the drought it has been found to weaken the water situation in the river. However, researchers disagree on how important it is, Taks says.
Professor: Agriculture and forestry pollute water
However, Taks wants to highlight the importance of Uruguay’s main industries in the quality of drinking water.
– Harmful amounts of cyanobacteria have been measured in tap water for many years, which is caused by chemicals used in agriculture and forestry.
After the incident, the use of the chemicals in question was allowed.
– This is an example of how much power agricultural and forestry companies in Uruguay wield. Chemicals were not only allowed because of UPM, but the entire sector lobbied for their approval.
UPM’s director of communication in Uruguay Matías Martinez gives an interview to .
He considers chemicals ending up in the water to be a rare and unfortunate isolated case.
– We fixed the situation as soon as we noticed the leak and found out the cause.
According to Martínez, the pulp industry in Uruguay works with respect for the environment. According to him, the protestors’ claims are about a lack of information.
He reminds that the majority of Uruguayans accept or have a neutral attitude towards the pulp industry.
– UPM is not responsible for Uruguay’s water shortage, because we return 80 percent of the water taken by the pulp mills after treatment back to the river, the rest evaporates in the process. In addition, we comply with the same environmental standards as, for example, in Finland.
Cooperation with Finland
In addition to pulp, Uruguay lives by growing soybeans and rice, among other things. That also consumes a lot of water.
In Finland, Elokapina activists have demanded that UPM pay Uruguay an “ecological debt” for the water it uses.
According to Professor Javier Taksi, there is no similar discussion in Uruguay.
– Environmental issues are not on the surface in Uruguay. The pulp industry is supported by both the political left and the right.
Uruguay fought with Argentina for the first pulp mill established by UPM in 2007 in Fray Bentos. Uruguay won, and the Argentines tried to stall the project by citing environmental reasons.
– That’s why environmental movements in Uruguay are associated with an unpatriotic label. Appealing to environmental reasons has been considered a degree of treason.
According to Taksi, the problem is also that not all the effects of the pulp industry on the environment are fully known yet. The plans are to create an independent researcher-observer alongside companies and the country’s government.
– We are starting a collaboration with the University of Helsinki, the purpose of which is to monitor the environmental and social effects of the pulp industry, says Taks, who works as a professor at Uruguay’s largest university.
Varela, the artist who toured Europe, has returned home to Uruguay. A message comes from him.
The first thing he bought at home was bottled water for his cat.