Water supply and sanitation 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 | |
This article was last comprehensively updated in September 2007. Please feel free to update it if need be.
Uruguay is the only country in Latin America that has achieved quasi-universal coverage of access to safe drinking water supply and adequate sanitation. 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.
Water and sanitation coverage in Uruguay (2004)
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP/2006). Data for water and sanitation based on the WHO World Health Survey (2003).
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.
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.
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