Almost 22 million people live in Mexico City. But the sprawling city has been suffering from dwindling water supplies for months – and now one of the world's most populous cities is on the verge of a “Day Zero” when it will no longer have enough water to support its residents.
Citing the Valley of Mexico Water Basin Organization, local newspaper La Razón de México reported last week that officials fear that “Day Zero” – when the Cutzamala system will no longer have enough water for residents – will come on June 26 come and could last until September. Locals are already struggling to have enough water, with many spending “days, if not weeks, without running water in their homes,” said CBS News contributor Enrique Acevedo.
“There have been water shortages and water management in the city like we haven’t seen in at least a decade,” he said. “Gyms here in Mexico City and other public parks had to start limiting the number of guests showering and using their facilities because many people were taking advantage of their memberships to use water in these facilities.”
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Local resident Juan Ortega told Portal in January that rules put in place to save water included “no more washing cars.”
“The garden, the grass, is never watered, just the plants so they don’t die,” he said. “We will start reusing water from washing machines for irrigation.”
A woman fills a bucket with mineral water at a residential unit in the Las Peñas neighborhood of Iztapalapa on February 27, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. TOYA SARNO JORDAN/Getty Images
Arturo Gracia, who runs a cafe in the area, said his company had to pay for a water truck to supply water to toilets and other essentials.
“It affects us a lot,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s just us. This is happening in several parts of the city.”
These problems have worsened as Mexico City struggled with high temperatures last week. The SACMEX water system in Mexico City said on February 27 that temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius were recorded. Temperatures are expected to reach nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit this week with minimal cloud cover, according to The Weather Channel.
It was an “unprecedented situation,” SACMEX director Rafael Carmona told Portal, with a lack of rain a key factor. Rainfall in the region has declined over the past four to five years, he said, resulting in low storage in local dams. The lack of water in the supply systems combined with the high population has created “something we had not experienced during this administration or in previous administrations,” he said.
Most of Mexico is experiencing some form of drought, with many areas experiencing the highest levels of “extreme” and “exceptional” drought, according to the country's drought monitor. As of October, 75% of the country was suffering from drought, the Associated Press reported, while the country's rainy season doesn't begin until around May.
Women wash clothes on the dry bank of the Villa Victoria Dam, which is at 30.5 percent of its capacity on February 28, 2024 in Villa Victoria, Mexico. / Getty Images
Acevedo said that in addition to drought, “poor water management” also contributed significantly to the problem.
“We had a lot of underwater leaks. … Some figures suggest that up to 40% of the water wasted in the city comes from underground leaks. There are also some leaks in residential areas,” he said.
At the beginning of February, SACMEX reported several leaks, which the supplier said it was working to fix. Many of these leaks were “caused by fluctuations in the pressure of the hydraulic network,” SACMEX said.
However, not everyone believes that “Day Zero” will come so soon. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the government will be able to increase water supplies enough to prevent such an event this year, La Razón de México reported. Other researchers believe this could happen in the coming years.
“It’s not like we’re facing day zero,” Acevedo said, “but we haven’t seen anything as bad as this in a long time.”
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