Wildlife of Uruguay

This page covers environmental issues in Uruguay.

The Uruguayan savanna ecoregion used to be covered by grasslands, palm savannas, and gallery forests along the Uruguay, Negro, Yaguarí, Queguay, and Tacuarembó rivers. Unfortunately, agriculture and cattle ranching have heavily altered these natural communities. The savannas are critically endangered because there are few small isolated patches of intact habitat remaining. The whole ecoregion has been severely altered by cattle ranching, one of the main pillars of the national economy in Uruguay. About 80% of Uruguayan territory is used for cattle ranching on natural and artificial savannas.

The Santa Lucia River, the body of water that provides over 60% of Uruguayans with their tap water, has experienced a significant decline in quality since 2014. Increased dumping from agricultural companies into the sanitary system raised the amount of toxic waste in the water, and the decrease in rain does not allow the dilution of this waste to occur. Excessive amounts of fertilizers, the dumping of cesspit waste and wastewater treatment plants working to only half of their capacity are also large factors in the pollution of this basin.

The excess of phosphorus in the water is too much to be consumed by phytoplankton (who keep the ecosystem balanced), therefore ends up ruining the water and helps develop cyanobacterias, that pollute drinking water. Most of the waste that is dumped into the basins helps to produce this excess of phosphorus.

A study has shown that those children who have water filters in their homes, get better grades in school, no matter their social-economic standing. 30% of children in Uruguay have excessive levels of lead in their systems, due to it being in their tap water.^[1]

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