Mexico, or most of it, is running out of water.
Extreme drought has dried up taps across the country, with nearly two-thirds of all municipalities facing water shortages, and in some areas, people spending hours waiting for government water rations. They are forced to line up.
Water shortages are getting worse, so angry residents are blocking highways and kidnapping city officials to demand more water.
Eight of Mexico’s 32 states experienced extreme to moderate drought in July, and 1,546 of 2,463 municipalities faced water shortages, according to the National Water Commission.
By mid-July, about 48% of Mexico’s territory was suffering from drought, according to the commission, compared with about 28% of the country’s territory at the same time last year.
Linking a single drought to human-induced climate change requires analysis, but scientists doubt that global warming is altering rainfall patterns around the world, making drought more likely. No room.
Across the border, most of the western half of the United States has been hit by drought in recent years, with conditions ranging from moderate to severe. For the region, this period is now the driest 20 years in 1,200 years.
The crisis is particularly acute in Monterrey, Mexico’s second largest city and one of its most important economic centers, with the entire metropolitan area of about 5 million people affected by drought, officials said. I’m here. Parts of Monterrey have had water outages for 75 days, with many schools closing ahead of the upcoming summer vacation.
Conditions in the city became so dire that journalists visiting were unable to find drinking water for sale at several stores, including Walmart.
Buckets are also scarce in local stores or sold at astronomical high prices. I’m having a hard time.
While the poorest areas of Monterrey have been hit hardest, the crisis is affecting everyone, including the wealthy.
“Here you have to chase the water,” said 38-year-old Claudia Muñiz. “In moments of despair, people explode,” she said of the violence intensified by people fighting over the water there.
Located in northern Mexico, Monterrey is the driest region in the country, and its population has been increasing in recent years due to rapid economic growth. However, the region’s typically dry climate has struggled to support its population as climate change has reduced the region’s meager rainfall.
Residents of Monterrey can now walk across the floor of the reservoir created by the Cerro Prieto Dam. This reservoir was once one of the city’s largest water sources. The reservoir was also once a major tourist attraction, with the local government touting its bustling seaside restaurants, fishing, boating and water skiing.
now Cerro Prieto It is most popular because the coins are buried at the bottom of a reservoir that bakes in the sun. Residents hold metal detectors over exposed rocks and shrubs and stuff pouches with pesos that visitors throw in with wishes.
7 years of drought with Cerro Prieto Reservoir — Only interrupted by heavy rains in 2018, water along two other dams that provide most of Monterrey’s water supply has also dried up, according to local officials. % and another dam reached 42%. The rest of the city’s water comes from aquifers, many of which have also dried up.
July rainfall in parts of Nuevo Leon, which borders Texas and whose capital is Monterrey, was just 10% of the monthly average recorded since 1960, said the city’s water commissioner. said Juan Ignacio Barragan Villarreal. agency.
“There wasn’t a single drop of rain in the entire state in March,” he said, adding that it was the first March without rain since the government began keeping records in 1960.
Today, the government distributes a total of 9 million liters of water daily to 400 communities. Every day, heavy trucks, ‘pipas’, full of water and pipes for distribution, litter Monterrey and its suburbs to serve the needs of the driest areas and often the poorest settlements.
Alejandro Casas, a water truck driver, has worked for the government for five years, and when he started, he assisted the city’s firefighters, pumping water to firefighters perhaps once or twice a month. Called in to deliver. His work hours were often spent staring at his mobile phone.
However, the water shortage in Monterrey became so severe that the taps started working. Although January has dried up, he works every day, making up to 10 trips to different areas each day, supplying water to about 200 households each time.
By the time Mr. Casas arrives, there are long lines of people waiting in the streets of his neighborhood. Some families have containers that can hold 200 liters (53 gallons) and wait in the sun all afternoon before finally receiving them. water at midnight.
The water he delivers is all the water your family gets for up to a week.
Residents of other communities try to sneak in instead of waiting for the truck to arrive in their neighborhood in a few days. Residents can take home as much water as they can fit in a container.
In May, Casas’ truck was attacked by several young men who climbed into the passenger seat and threatened him as he was carrying water to the San Angel area.
“They spoke to me in a very threatening tone,” Casas said, explaining that they demanded that they drive a truck into the neighborhood to distribute water. They told me they were going to kidnap us if we didn’t go where we wanted.”
Mr. Casas made his way to another area, filled a bucket of residents, and was released.
Edgar Lewis, another government water tanker driver, has also seen the crisis worsen. Since January, he has been delivering water from a government-controlled well, and has watched nervously as the water level drops each week.
“We distributed two or three pipes in January,” he said, referring to individual water tanks that can carry up to 15,000 liters. “Now he distributes 10 people, but they hire more people to drive the water trucks. Nneighboring country Dispatching drivers and trucks in order to help.
He is now afraid to do his job. Residents were grateful to see his water truck enter the neighborhood. Now they are angry that the government has not solved the water shortage.
“They threw stones at the water truck,” he said.
Maria de los Angeles, 45, was born and raised in Cienega de Flores, near Monterrey. She says the water crisis is straining her family and her business.
“I have never experienced a crisis like this before,” said de los Angeles. “Water comes only from the tap for him every four or five days.”
She said the crisis is driving her into bankruptcy. The garden she owns is her family’s only source of livelihood and needs more water than the occasional run of taps in her house.
“I have to buy a water tank for 1,200 pesos (about $60) every week,” she said. This consumes about half of her weekly income of $120.
“I can’t help it,” said de los Angeles.
Small business owners like De Los Ángeles are frustrated at having to fend for themselves while Monterrey’s big industry is mostly functioning.factories can be drawn 50 million cubic meters of water Because of federal concessions that give them special access to the city’s aquifer.
The government is struggling to cope with the crisis.
To alleviate future water shortages, the state will invest approximately $97 million to build a plant to treat wastewater and purchase water from a desalination plant under construction in a neighboring state.
The government spent about $82 million to rent more water trucks, pay extra for drivers, and dig more wells, according to Barragan, director of the water department.
Nuevo Leon’s Governor Samuel Garcia recently called on the world to work together to tackle climate change.
Garcia tweeted: “The climate crisis is looming.
“Today we have to look after the environment. It’s life or death.”