by MEXICO CITY – North America’s most populous city is in the grip of a water crisis, with persistent drought and years of low rainfall straining the already strained system that supplies Mexico City with running water all the way to its border.
More than 21 million residents across the Mexico City metropolitan area suffered weeks of water shortages, with local authorities cutting rations as reservoirs hit historic lows.
Olga González, a 50-year-old woman who lives in the neighborhood of Coyoacán, said that local officials are using water tanker trucks to supply water to the residents of the area, but that there is not enough.
“Sometimes it takes four or five days for the trucks to arrive,” she said.
The scarcity means González has to do as much as possible with the little water available.
“I recycle the water. I go into the shower and collect the water to use in the toilet,” she said. “And it’s the same with the washing machine. I recycle the water from the wash cycle to use in the toilet.”
She added that she also has to buy drinking water from the store because the water provided by the city is too dirty and chlorinated to drink.
In the Tlalpan district of Mexico City, Nancy Cabrera Cepeda, a 40-year-old office worker, said that local authorities usually give water to residents only once a week.
“We have a tank and, when the water comes in it is filled, but generally we have no water supply,” she said.
Unfortunately, the shortage has become all too familiar to residents of Mexico City, where poorly planned urban development, inadequate infrastructure and the area’s unique history and geography are putting great strain on the region’s water system.
In recent years, these ongoing challenges have been compounded by droughts exacerbated by climate change.
“Last year, we spent two months without water,” said Estela Hernández Villa, a 42-year-old merchant who lives in the Iztapalapa area. “There are areas that go even further without water.”
Darío Solano-Rojas, an associate professor in the engineering department of earth science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said it is unlikely that the entire city would run out of water – a milestone sometimes called “day zero” – but that is likely to be the coming months are challenging.
“If I run out of water, it’s already day zero for me,” he said. “This kind of thing has been going on for a long time already.”
The region’s complex relationship with water is as old as the city itself. Mexico City sits atop the high-altitude bed of a former lake that was drained in the 16th century after the Spanish conquered the area.
As a result, the city’s main source of water comes from pumping aquifers underground and channeling a network of canals, dams and reservoirs that make up the Cutzamala System.
About 70% of Mexico City’s water is pumped from the ground, and the Cutzamala System supplies the other 30% to the Mexico City metropolitan area and the nearby Toluca Valley, Solano-Rojas said.
But underground aquifers are becoming stressed as the city expands rapidly, and years of overuse submerge the land, a process known as subsidence.
A study conducted by Solano-Rojas in collaboration with Solano-Rojas and published in the journal JGR Solid Earth found that groundwater extraction caused the city to sink at a rate of about 20 inches per year since 1950 .
“The city is growing a lot,” he said. “We have other sources of water but we still get water from the ground, so the subsidence continues and it’s a problem that has never stopped since the great pyramids were built in the pre-Hispanic history of the city.”
Local infrastructure has not kept up with how fast Mexico City is expanding, Solano-Rojas said, adding that authorities are scrambling to repair leaks and replace aging pipes to strengthen the region’s water system.
All of these issues are big challenges on their own, but he said climate change is adding to the water crisis as the region suffers from persistent drought conditions.
The country as a whole is hotter and drier than usual, according to a recent report from Mexico’s National Water Commission (Conagua). The agency determined that January was the warmest on record, with an average temperature 1.26 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal for the month.
Warmer temperatures and less precipitation across Central Mexico means less chance of replenishing the aquifers and dams that feed the Cutzamala System.
“In Mexico City, we are not ready to respond as quickly as the drought is problematic,” said Solano-Rojas.
All these stresses together make it difficult for the city to supply enough water for human consumption, industrial activities and agriculture.
Many neighborhoods are feeling the pinch.
“In the case of Iztapalapa, water scarcity has always been a major problem,” said Mariano Salazar, a 69-year-old community leader in the area. “There are almost 2 million of us in this municipality and we need 100 million cubic meters of water per year.”
Frustration over the situation has fueled unrest. In January, protesters in the municipality of Acambay forced open the gate of Mexico’s National Water Commission office and broke windows, as reported by Reuters.
Local authorities have encouraged residents to conserve water and prioritize what is available to drink, especially since temperatures this week are around 85 F.
For many like Hernández Villa in Iztapalapa, the scarcity forced great sacrifices on a daily basis.
“We try to wash our clothes as little as possible, we don’t use the shower anymore,” she said. “We have to leave the water in containers and bathe in jars to try to save as much as possible. We want the little water we collect to last a little longer.”
Denise Chow reported from New York City and Albinson Linares from Mexico City.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
