Argentina is experiencing largest water crisis in last 77 years

RIO DE JANEIRO BRAZIL – The largest water crisis in the last 77 years, affecting Argentina and much of the neighboring region, could worsen in the next quarter, making power generation conditions even more difficult in the main dams and in the thermoelectric and nuclear power plants that use water for cooling.

Sources at the Undersecretariat of Electric Energy told Télam, however, that “in general, the power system will not be stressed and demand can be met comfortably from other generation sources.”

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According to weather forecasts for the August-October quarter, there are no signs that the low rainfall in the basins of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers in northeastern Argentina can be reversed, similar to what is expected in the south of the country, particularly in the Comahue basin.

The low flow of rivers was one of the problems faced by the Energy Secretariat this winter. In addition, there was a decrease in natural gas supplies from Bolivia due to the recent recovery of gas production in Vaca Muerta – which was delayed by a month due to the protests in Neuquén- which was insufficient to meet peak demand.

Currently, due to the persistent lack of rainfall in central Brazil, the discharge of the Paraná River reaches daily minimum values of up to 5,500 m3/s [meters per second]. In comparison, the historical average for June and July is 14,200 m3/s.

Similarly, the Salto Grande dam has reduced its generation capacity by almost 50% of its total installed capacity of 1,890 MW.

Water scarcity is also a problem for the operation of the thermal power plants and the Atucha I (360 Mw) and Atucha II (745 Mw) nuclear power plants, which are located on the banks of the Paraná River and use its waters to cool their electrical generation processes.