Mexico Faces Unprecedented Water Crisis

When Mexico City was founded, the area, where one of the most populous cities on Earth now stands, was occupied by a system of lakes. Today, Mexico’s capital is battling an unprecedented drought, and its 22 million residents are living on rations, with water flowing from the taps only 2-3 hours a day, if at all, according to testimonies gathered by local media. For three months, the situation has been at the limit due to low rainfall (not just this year), very long dry spells, and high temperatures. According to Fabiola Sosa-Rodriguez of the Metropolitan Autonomous University of Mexico City, quoted by Sky News, “the water available in the metropolis is almost half of the water that citizens should have access to.”

The situation, however, is not new and is not limited to the capital: according to the non-profit association Water.org, of the 127 million Mexicans, 72 million, or 57% of the population, do not have access to drinking water, and 47 million (37%) do not have access to safe sanitation. Water scarcity and drought are a problem in much of the country, and more than half of Mexican families with access to drinking water receive it only intermittently.

But the situation in the capital is now dramatic, and the population is dealing with very tight quotas. Years of abnormally low rainfall have dealt the final blow to an already imperfect water supply system. According to some analysts, the situation is so critical that in a few weeks the metropolis could finally be in a drought, and the rainy season, which could alleviate the situation, is a few months away.

According to Spanish newspaper El País, Mexican President Lopez Obrador called an emergency meeting in early February and later promised to improve water supply by 30 percent in a year, particularly by digging new wells around Mexico City.

Local politicians are downplaying the situation, but some experts are talking about “day zero,” when entire areas of the city will remain permanently dry. And that, according to the Mexico Valley Watershed Organization, consulted by the Mexican newspaper La Razón, could happen around June 26, when the crisis could last until September, which is when the rainy season is supposed to begin. At this point, the hope is that the precipitation will bring relief to Cutzamala, the water system that supplies the capital and much of Mexico.