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Depleted reservoirs threaten Mexico City’s water supply

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 10, 2009 at 6:19 am

From the Latin American Herald Tribune:

VILLA VICTORIA, MEXICO – Reservoirs that are a source of water to Mexico City – one of the world’s biggest metropolises – are at record low levels due to insufficient rainfall last year, prompting authorities to curtail supply. “We’ve never been at such low levels,” the head of the National Water Commission, or Conagua, Jose Luis Luege, told reporters at the Villa Victoria reservoir, near the capital.

The average capacity of three of the seven reservoirs that make up the Cutzamala dam system, which supplies the Mexico City metropolitan area, stood at 47.8 percent on Wednesday morning, compared to a normal level of 63 percent.

That shortage, combined with planned maintenance work on hydric infrastructure, will lead to supply cuts in Greater Mexico City during Holy Week that will affect some 5 million people, a fifth of the metropolitan area’s total population.

The low water levels are due to insufficient rainfall last year, and Luege said that if forecasts for another dry year in 2009 prove to be correct (and particularly if reservoirs do not swell during the May to November rainy season) the interruption to supply could be prolonged.

Read more from the Latin American Herald Tribune by clicking here.

April 10, 2009 · Filed Under International Water Issues

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