The fast changes in the use of the soil in the country as a result of the advance of the agribusiness model and the growing concentration of land in very few powerful economic actors, threaten the sustainable and participatory management of the water basins and the principle that water should first and foremost be destined for human use.

An example is the area called Quebrada de los Cuervos, in Treinta y Tres department, which is part of the basin of the Merin lagoon shared between Brazil and Uruguay.

In Treinta y Tres we interviewed María, an organic farmer of the area. A minining corporation is currently carrying out studies to install mining extractive projects in the region, the main one being Zamin Ferrous (Aratirí).

“We are on our own here. We have no public support. People have come to some of my neighbors’ land to carry out studies. They give more value to mining than to the harvest of the local residents”, says María, who also runs a touristic resort with her family.

“We need land, young people have no land nor are there projects that say ’these lands are next to a protected area, so there will not be mining or monoculture plantations here”.

There is no electricity where Maria lives, even though there have been projects to install electricity lines since 1973.

“The mining corporation brings its own power just for them, they do not include the rest of the people who live in the area”, said Maria.

Photo: Quebrada de los Cuervos / Davich / Radio Mundo Real