Scientists have warned months ago that Mexico City would run out of water due to the ongoing drought. That day is approaching fast.
The reservoirs of the Cutzamala System, which provide about one-fifth of the city’s water, are essentially dry. The only available option is to try to take water from the aquifers below the city. There is not a large enough supply, and as water is drawn from these, which are the partial foundations of Mexico City, the metropolitan area could sink several feet a year. The city, or much of it, will be destroyed. (Related: WATER CRISIS INCOMING: Mexico City only months away from totally running out of water.)
Years of abnormally low rainfall, longer dry periods and high temperatures have added stress to a water system already straining to cope with increased demand. Authorities have been forced to introduce significant restrictions on the water pumped from reservoirs.
"Several neighborhoods have suffered from a lack of water for weeks, and there are still four months left for the rains to start," said Christian Domínguez Sarmiento, an atmospheric scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Politicians are downplaying any sense of crisis, but some experts say the situation has now reached critical levels that Mexico City could be barreling toward "day zero" in a matter of months – where the taps run dry for huge swaths of the city.
Mexico City's aquifer nearly drained
Around 60 percent of Mexico City’s water comes from its underground aquifer, but this has been so over-extracted that the city is sinking at a frightening rate – around 20 inches a year, according to recent research. And the aquifer is not being replenished anywhere near fast enough. The rainwater rolls off the city's hard, impermeable surfaces, rather than sinking into the ground.
The Cutzamala System is currently at around 39 percent of its capacity, languishing at a historic low.
"It's almost half of the amount of water that we should have," said Fabiola Sosa-Rodríguez, head of economic growth and environment at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City.
In October, Conagua, the country's national water commission, announced it would restrict water from Cutzamala by eight percent "to ensure the supply of drinking water to the population given the severe drought."
Just a few weeks later, officials significantly tightened restrictions, reducing the water supplied by the system by nearly 25 percent due to extreme weather conditions.
"Measures will have to be taken to be able to distribute the water that Cutzamala has over time, to ensure that it does not run out," Germán Arturo Martínez Santoyo, the director general of Conagua, said in a statement at the time.
As water has become scarcer, other areas of the city are facing increased rationing as they only get water during certain times of the day or on certain days of the week. Water has been rationed to 284 neighborhoods so far this year, even to more affluent ones.
What is left unsaid is that rationing only goes so far. At some point, it becomes insufficient if the drought continues.
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