this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
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Mexico City may be just months away from running of out water (www.cnn.com)
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/worldnews@lemmy.world
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Alejandro Gomez has been without proper running water for more than three months. Sometimes it comes on for an hour or two, but only a small trickle, barely enough to fill a couple of buckets. Then nothing for many days.

Gomez, who lives in Mexico City’s Tlalpan district, doesn’t have a big storage tank so can’t get water truck deliveries — there’s simply nowhere to store it. Instead, he and his family eke out what they can buy and store.

When they wash themselves, they capture the runoff to flush the toilet. It’s hard, he told CNN. “We need water, it’s essential for everything.”

Water shortages are not uncommon in this neighborhood, but this time feels different, Gomez said. “Right now, we are getting this hot weather. It’s even worse, things are more complicated.”

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[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 30 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Not sure if you're aware of the city's colonial history. An example from the article:

The Aztecs chose this spot to build their city of Tenochtitlan in 1325, when it was a series of lakes. They built on an island, expanding the city outwards, constructing networks of canals and bridges to work with the water.

But when the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century, they tore down much of the city, drained the lakebed, filled in canals and ripped out forests. They saw “water as an enemy to overcome for the city to thrive,” said Jose Alfredo Ramirez, an architect and co-director of Groundlab, a design and policy research organization.

Their decision paved the way for many of Mexico City’s modern problems. Wetlands and rivers have been replaced with concrete and asphalt. In the rainy season, it floods. In the dry season, it’s parched.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

That's all true, but that was hundreds of years ago. Corruption, mismanagement and climate change are the drivers now.

Ultimately the commentor's comment regarding "don't build your city" also applies to the Spanish who did...all that building.