They learn to drastically ration water

Doña Judith Rodríguez Varela lives in one of the most populated areas with the greatest scarcity of drinking water in the world.

Iztapalapa, a mayor's office located east of Mexico City, where just over 1.8 million inhabitants gradually exercise the human right to water.

We have learned to drastically ration water, to only use it for what is most necessary and essential,” commented Mrs. Judith, administrator of the El Vergel Housing Unit in Santa Cruz.

The worst is yet to come, according to the forecasts, due to the climate emergency, which is being faced globally, where the prolonged drought, the high temperatures - which this year broke all records - and the lack of rain, maintain with thirst to a large part of the Mexican Republic.

For 20 years, Doña Judith has practically lived in search of water for herself and her neighbors.

Every day I dedicate myself to visiting the mayor's office, to talk to the officials, send messages on WhatsApp to request the pipes and go to the Mexico City Water System, so that they do not forget our need; It is very complicated,” he indicated.

In the El Vergel Housing Unit of Santa Cruz, Colonia Las Peñas, the approximately two thousand residents have already learned to live with permanent rationing, because the supply by pipes only arrives once a week, revealed neighbor Norma Trujillo García.

Yes, we get the pipes, but there are few that supply us, it is a unit with 490 homes, which hardly has all the water we require,” he stated.

Norma highlighted that, in order for the water to last seven days, they resort to batching, and they only turn on the pump for one hour a day.

The necessary pumping time, to have enough water, would have to be two and a half hours a day, but we only turn it on for an hour daily to have a little water,” he commented.

Unfortunately, this scenario experienced in Iztapalapa could soon be replicated in other regions of Mexico, since in the final stretch of the 2023 hurricane season, which ends on November 30, accumulated rains at the national level report a deficit of 26.7%.

The extreme drought and exceptional drought, the most severe of all, continues to advance over the national territory, in the states of Querétaro, Hidalgo and Durango, and as a consequence of the weather, the 210 main dams in the country suffer a decrease of 33% compared to to the average.

The Cutzamala dam system, which supplies around 25 million inhabitants within the Valley of Mexico, including a part of the Iztapalapa mayor's office, is experiencing the worst crisis in its history, and has yet to hit bottom, with a storage of just 38.8 percent, the lowest for these dates of the
last 27 years.

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