Uruguay’s government will spend $12 million a month to guarantee bottled water supplies to an additional 500,000 people amid an unprecedented drinking water crisis affecting the capital Montevideo and neighboring communities.

A total of 420,000 welfare recipients will receive two liters of bottled water a day each, Social Development Minister Martin Lema said in a webcast press conference from Montevideo.

Water aid will also be extended to 80,000 low-income retirees in the Montevideo and Canelones departments, with both measures probably to be implemented next week, Labor Minister Pablo Mieres said at the same event.

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The government has asked Congress to authorize a special fund for spending on the water crisis, Finance Minister Azucena Arbeleche said at the event. The administration is negotiating loans with multilateral lenders to fund the crisis response, she said.

State water company OSE is using brackish water to avoid service cuts in the Montevideo metropolitan area after 3.5 years of drought that have depleted local freshwater reservoirs.