Environmental issues in Uruguay
Other heavy metals from untreated waste, and unregulated discharges from the petrochemical industry and thermoelectric power plants wash into the rivers and sea.
On the positive side, Uruguay has committed to reducing its dependence on fossil fuels, especially in power production, with heavy investment in renewables.
The Santa Lucía River, which could provide over 60% of Uruguayans with tap water, has experienced a significant decline in quality since 2014.
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.
[2] For example, the Radesca S.A. battery factory in Montevideo was one of the worst sources of lead in the country, in part due to poor disposal practices.
But this has consequences; the increase in production can cause the crops to drain the local water supply, as it is required irrigation and this makes it difficult for other plants to grow.
In addition to this, large areas of forests have been cleared out to create new farmland, to grow food to feed the increasing number of cattle.
Although some steps have been taken by the government of Uruguay, to assess the heavy metals in the aquatic environment, the effects of its impact on fish and many other members of marine biota have largely been ignored.
[14] Increases of climate rain in Uruguay and Argentina during 2018 was estimated by the World Meteorological organization to have caused $2.5 billion in damage.
[18] In 2017, Uruguay identified 106 methods of reducing emissions as part of their Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Climate Agreement.
[19][20] Activities include reductions of emissions across food and grain production, increases of native and reforested land, restoration of bogland and grasslands as carbon sinks.
[19] To pursue climate policy, the country created on the 20th of May 2009, the Sistema Nacional de Respuesta al Cambio Climático y variabilidad (SNRCC) through directive 238/09.
[26] In only 10 years, Uruguay has been able to develop its wind power helping the hydroelectric energy situation that has seen itself in constant decline due to the increasing droughts in the region.
A private entity called Tecnova Renovables has a solar power plant that now provides the equivalent of the electrical consumption of 100 homes.
More and more droughts affect the region and becoming too dependent on these dams has forced Uruguay to purchase great amounts of fossil fuels from other countries to produce electricity.
The two main agencies that create this energy source are UPM and Montes del Plata, two pulp mills that have great awareness for the environment.
In the 2014 election a new political group, the Ecologist Radical Intransigent Party, took part, led by Cesar Vega.
