The National Administration of State Sanitary Works (OSE) (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''Administración Nacional de las Obras Sanitarias del Estado'') is the

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Water Utilities The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services (including sewage treatment) to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the economy. Typically public utilities operate water supply networks. The water industry does ...

company.

History

The water service in Uruguay dates back to the year 1867, when after a great drought, the National Government made a call and finally gave Enrique Fynn and other associates a concession to supply piped water to

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. In 1868 the construction of a steam pumping plant began, a pipeline of almost 60 km and the installation of three fountains ( Constitution Square, Plaza Artola and Plaza Flores) that received water for the supply of residents in the city. On May 13, 1871, the water pumped from the Santa Lucía River to the center of Montevideo arrived for the first time. On July 18 of that same year, the service was officially inaugurated with an act in which President

Lorenzo Batlle y Grau Lorenzo Cristóbal Manuel Batlle y Grau (August 10, 1810 in Montevideo – May 8, 1887 in Montevideo) was the president of Uruguay from 1868 to 1872. Family background and early career He was the son of a wealthy merchant loyal to the Spanis ...

participated. The place chosen to install the plant was an almost isolated area, without roads or trains, on the banks of the

Santa Lucía River The Santa Lucía River ( es, Río Santa Lucía) is a river in Uruguay. Course The headwaters of the Santa Lucía River are in the Lavalleja department. For a large part of its course it forms the limit between the departments of Florida and San ...

. The establishment of workers with their families, and later the incorporation of workers to the plant in operation, originated the Villa de Aguas Corrientes, which to this day has a very close link with the production of drinking water. In 1879, eight years into the service, the concession was transferred to the English company ''

Montevideo Waterworks Company The Montevideo Waterworks Company, Ltd. was a British company, operating in Montevideo, Uruguay. Organized in 1879, its offices were at 61 Moorgate, London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city ...

'', which was in charge of the service until 1950, when the Uruguayan State nationalized the company. During the English period, there was a great increase in demand, as well as the change from a supply without treatment, to one that incorporated each of the steps of purification. In 1952 after a two-year process, the Compañía de Aguas Corrientes merged with the Sanitation Directorate of the then

Ministry of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

, which was in charge of supplying water in the interior of the country, creating the ''Administration of State Sanitary Works'' by law No. 11,907.

Services

Drinking water

OSE is the company in charge of supplying drinking water nationwide, annually producing more than 350 million m³ of drinking water, which is distributed through 15,000 km of networks throughout the country. To do this, it has 71 plants that make water drinkable, the most important of which is the Aguas Corrientes Plant, located in

Canelones Department The Departamento de Canelones ( es, Departamento de Canelones; ) is one of the 19 uruguayan departments. With an area of and 518,154 inhabitants, it is located in the south of Uruguay. Its capital is Canelones. Geography and climate Neighbou ...

, 56 km from the capital city. There, the water that supplies the metropolitan area (approximately 1,700,000 inhabitants) is made drinkable.

Sanitation

OSE is in charge of the sewage service throughout Uruguay except in the capital, Montevideo, since 1916 it has been in charge of the Municipality of Montevideo. The sewerage system is made up of collector networks, pumping stations, effluent treatment plants, and final disposal sites. It currently has more than 40 domestic waste liquid treatment plants corresponding to medium and large towns, and more than a hundred small systems corresponding to housing programs.

References

External links

Official website
* {{authority control Water supply and sanitation in Uruguay Government-owned companies of Uruguay Organizations based in Montevideo