Last week, the mayor of Bogotá imposed strict water restrictions and rationing. The city and its surrounding areas were divided into nine zones, where the water supply was completely stopped for 24 hours. This affects just under 10 million people.
The city's millions of residents line up to get drinking water from tankers.
Photo: AP
The rain has failed
El Niño climate phenomenon 2023 and 2024 are among the five strongest years ever recorded, according to the United Nations. The combination of El Niño and man-made climate change means that more and more areas of the world are lacking water. Colombia is one of the countries that was hit hard.
The water level in the San Rafael reservoir outside Bogotá is 15 percent. It is one of the main sources of drinking water in Bogotá.
Photograph: Fernando Vergara/AP
This is especially important in the capital, Bogotá. The city is located on a plateau rising 2,640 meters above sea level in the northern Andes, and is considered one of the highest capitals in the world. Traditionally, this is an area where it rains a lot.
Bogota relies entirely on rain to fill its water reservoirs. For a long time there was no rain. This means that many reservoirs are almost empty, and the city is suffering from severe drought.
In the Choza reservoir, which accounts for 70 percent of the capital's water supply, there is now only 16.9 percent of normal capacity. According to the mayor Carlos Fernando Galán He writes: Is this the lowest level in 40 years? BBC. The same applies to other reservoirs that supply the city with water.
Water shortages are severe in Bogotá. There is usually a lot of rain in the area due to its location. Now it's not raining.
Photograph: Fernando Vergara/AP
Totally dependent on rain
Armando Sarmiento is a professor of ecology at the Javeriana University in Bogotá. L says CNN Unlike most other cities, Bogotá relies entirely on surface water that fills reservoirs. There are no opportunities to collect water from the ground in the hilly area where the city is located. This makes it highly vulnerable to periods of drought.
– Samiento says: – Citizens and the Colombian government must realize the magnitude of this problem.
Water rationing began on Thursday last week. The town mayor asks people not to spill a single drop of water.
Photography: Luiz Gonzalez – Reuters
– Now everyone is focusing on what everyone can do, such as taking a short shower and not spilling water. But the problem is much bigger than that. The entire country, not just Bogotá, must prepare for future crises that could be much worse than this one.
The professor points out that the capital is one of the largest industrial areas in the country.
– As a society, we have to think completely new about our water consumption, he tells CNN.
20 million could be affected in Mexico
Bogotá shares a fate with Mexico City, which has also been affected for several years by water shortages as a result of reduced rainfall due to climate change, combined with significant population growth and poor infrastructure.
Water supplies are dangerously low in the Cotzamala system, which supplies water to more than 20 million people in and around the capital. The system includes three water tanks.
Villa Victoria Dam is one of the three water reservoirs in the Cotzamala system. The pond is about to dry up completely.
Photograph: Raul Cunha/Reuters
Mexico's National Water Commission says the situation has become dangerous. Calculations carried out by the commission show that if the situation does not change, the Cotzamala system will collapse at the end of June, according to Bloomberg News. Latin Republic.
published
04/21/2024 at 22.43
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