Mexico City Running Out of Water

So far, I’ve noted that water crises seem to come and go. Two memorable ones include that of the City of Atlanta (2007) facing a water shortage and Georgia and Alabama fighting over water rights. Then…the rains came and all is well. Then you might remember California in more recent time, (still slowly running out of water) but facing a water crisis until…the rains came, actually a succession of severe rain storm events and, all is well—for the moment.

In the news today is Mexico City. Currently “running out of water” with an estimated “Zero Day” of June 26th when they predict they will be out of water. Severe drought is the culprit and I’m sure that they are hoping for a miracle and that rain will come and all will be well. However, currently portions of the city are having “weekly” deliveries of water via trucks and other portions, even wealthy areas have had their water rations reduced.

Water comes from different sources, so some areas of this city of 22 million people have water from pumping from local aquifers and others are dependent on reservoirs that are rapidly drying up. It is important to note that there is an estimate that 40% of the water that is piped into the city is wasted due to leaky pipes. An ounce of prevention seems to be a topic that was skipped by generations of elected officials.

The situation above is similar to fast growing areas in the United States Southwest. The good news is there is more modern infrastructure and fewer leaking pipes, but then you still need water to fill those pipes.