The Uruguayan government will accept aid from Argentina for the lack of drinking water in Montevideo.

This was announced by Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou.

The Argentine government had offered to send a navy ship with 300 cubic metres of drinking water.

"We accepted because everything is useful", Lacalle Pou explained, but he clarified that the amount is "insignificant" given that Montevideo's daily consumption is around 500,000.

Due to the lack of rainfall, the rivers that supply water treatment plants do not have sufficient flow.

For this reason, they started pumping from sources closer to the Río de la Plata, which in the Montevideo area merges with the sea.

As a result, the mains water in the metropolitan area of the capital has a high level of salinity and is only being used for hygiene purposes, not for drinking.