Parched Mexico Builds New Infrastructure OOSKAnews
go to original August 12, 2012

Farmworker Juan Manuel Ramirez in San Luis de la Paz, Mexico, takes a break from irrigating dry land. A drought is affecting agriculture in the state of Guanajuato, one of the biggest growers of produce in the country. Since October 2010, there has been no significant rainfall. (Melanie Stetson Freeman/Christian Science Monitor)

CIUDAD VICTORIA Mexico — Tamaulipas State Governor Egidio Torre Cantú announced at the beginning of this month that the government would drill at least five new deep wells and speed up the construction of a second pipeline from the Vicente Guerrero Dam to confront water shortages in the state capital, Ciudad Victoria.

Approximately 95,000 residents of the city, in 60 sections, are facing water shortages, while other areas are rationing water. In total, the city requires a supply of 1,450 liters per second, and it currently has a deficit of 300 liters per second.

The last significant rain in the area was July 2, 2011, according to Carlos Montelongo Teran, manager of the city’s water utility, Comapa.

Daily per capita demand for water is also 35 percent higher than usual due to high heat, El Diario de Ciudad Victoria newspaper reported.

The wells are being drilled as an emergency measure, and Torre Cantú said that results from the projects would be seen within 30 days. In the meantime, the state and municipal governments are also initiating a series of infrastructure projects to supply areas that do not have water, or that only receive supply at night, he said.

“There are problems with some of the wells that normally supply the city, so we are going to drill others to replace those which have been exhausted,” he said. The wells will provide a total of approximately 100 liters per second.

The construction of the second pipeline from the dam would be the more definitive solution to the city’s water problems, however, El Diario de Ciudad Victoria reported.

Torre Cantú said that the dam has sufficient water, so that the problem is not supply, but transportation and distribution.

Mexico’s newly elected president, Enrique Peña Nieto, has promised help Tamaulipas state build the pipeline, which is on track to be completed, said Torre Cantú.

The 12-kilometer pipeline is expected to cost an estimated $68.2 million USD.

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