CDMX Imposes Severe Water Restrictions as Drought Dries Up Reservoirs Daniel Shailer - Associated Press
go to original November 12, 2023

Emilia Segura, left, and her daughter Cecilia Rivera Segura arrange containers after filling them with water at a free, public well in Pueblo Santa Cruz Acalpixca, Xochimilco, on the outskirts of Mexico City. (Ginnette Riquelme/AP)

Mexican officials imposed severe, monthslong cuts to Mexico City’s water supply at midnight Friday, acting just a month after initial restrictions were ordered as drought dries the capital’s reservoirs.

The Mexican National Water Commission and mayor announced the moves at a news conference, but officials did not report the cuts on social media until just four hours before they took effect.

Abnormally low rain has dropped the Cutzamala system — a network of three reservoirs serving over 20 million residents in the Valley of Mexico — to historic seasonal lows. The system is 44% lower than it should be at this time of the year.

Officials began restricting water from Cutzamala by roughly 8% on Oct. 17. Friday’s cuts are much more drastic, representing a further 25% of the system’s total flow. Twelve boroughs, mostly in the west of the city, can expect lower water pressure until the restrictions lift, officials said.

Mexico has never before announced such stringent or long-running restrictions to the city’s water because of drought. The city’s residents have suffered worse cuts in the past, but only because of strikes or repairs, all of which ended within days.

Officials said El Niño and heat waves caused the recent falloff in rain, but added that drought conditions have been intensifying the past four years and gradually lowering reservoir levels. Studies have shown climate change creates stronger El Niño patterns that bring periods of decreased rain.

Mexico as a whole had 25% less rainfall than expected this year, compared to averages from the past three decades. More than three-quarters of the country is experiencing drought, the commission reported, while 93% of the Valley of Mexico itself is in drought, the country’s chief meteorological expert said.

Read the rest at Associated Press

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!