'Day Zero' imminent? How Mexico City could run out of water in a month

For Mexico City, ‘Day Zero’ is looming.

The city of nearly 23 million people has been facing a water crisis for months – that too amid a scorching heatwave and severe drought.

But now North America’s biggest city may simply run out of water altogether – and it may happen as early as 26 June.

But why is this happening? And could Mexico City really run out of water?

Let’s take a closer look:

As per The New York Times “years of poor water management compounded by scarce rains" brought on by extended drought is to blame for the current mess.

The newspaper blamed climate change, urban sprawl and poor infrastructure for the city being pushed to the edge.

According to the Washington Post, the city gets around a fourth of its water from the Cutzamala system.

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This system, a series of reservoirs, water treatment plants and lengthy canals and tunnels, is nearly dry.

The system, which uses mostly surface water, has seen its levels constantly decrease due to reduced rainfall.

Below-average rainfall throughout almost all of Mexico has also left its lakes and dams dried up.

Almost 40 per cent of the country’s dams are below 20 per cent capacity. Another 40 per cent are between 20 and 50 per cent full.

As per QZ, certain neighbourhoods have gone without water for hours.

When water comes it is dark brown and foul smelling.

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An ex-political leader is begging the public to “prioritise essential actions for survival.”

The people have had enough.

In recent months, residents of some Mexico City neighbourhoods have regularly taken to forming human chains to block boulevards to demand water. In April, complaints about contaminated water sparked a weeks-long crisis in one upscale neighbourhood.

The Washington Post quoted Raquel Campos as saying her building’s troubles began in January.

Her building manager said the city simply stopped sending water. Campos has lived in the tony Polanco neighbourhood for nearly two decades.

She said her husband went to a nearby hotel to shower. The water in her building returned, but at a much lower pressure. Though water is delivered every two weeks, they have to pay for it.

Campos’ building isn’t alone.

Many buildings in the capital have to get water brought in by tanker trucks, but they have been in short supply and are expensive.

Nationwide, authorities have had to truck in water for everything from hospitals to fire-fighting teams. Low levels at hydroelectric dams have contributed to power blackouts in some parts of the country.

“We’re suffering because the city is growing immeasurably and it cannot be stopped,” Gabriel Martínez, 64, told the New York Times. “There aren’t enough resources.”

The city also has a major problem with leakage.

According to Grist, Mexico City loses nearly 40 per cent of its municipal water to leakage from pipes and canals – among the highest rates in the world.

But experts say struggling with water isn’t new for Mexico.

Dario Solano-Rojas, a professor of geological engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told Al Jazeera, “I was born with this problem existing. I thought it was normal everywhere, but it’s not.”

As per Al Jazeera, things were fine in Mexico when the Aztecs had built their civilisation amid a network of lakes.

But the arrival of the Spanish – who demolished the existing city of Tenochtitlan and built their own – changed everything.

“It’s a historical problem,” Elena Tudela Rivadeneyra, a professor of architecture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico told Al Jazeera. “Ever since we decided to dry out the lake system that we had here – and that started [shortly after the Spanish arrived] around 1608 – we started having a difficult relationship with water.”

What can Mexico do?

Gabriel Quadri de la Torre, a federal congressman for the Mexico City district of Coyoacán, told Washington Post the leakage could be brought to as low as 10 per cent by simply fixing the pipes.

However, Gabriel admitted that this would cost billions of dollars.

“It is very difficult to think that the Mexico City government will have this amount of money to invest in the network,” he added.

“The leakages are quite difficult to deal with,” added Tudela Rivadeneyra. “Even if you replace them with new materials and more elastic and technical and technological solutions, you still have quite an issue.”

While South Africa notably had success with its Day Zero campaign, experts say it will be tough to replicate.

Manuel Perló Cohen, a professor who studies water infrastructure at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, told Grist the government will likely have to restrict water.

“It won’t work here, because there’s a lack of confidence in the government,” Cohen told the outlet.

“People don’t believe in most of what the government says, even if it’s the truth."

Alejandra Lopez Rodriguez, a policy advocate at the Nature Conservancy in Mexico City, told Grist the government could fix Mexico’s leakage issue and built wastewater treatment projects.

“We have resources and we have access to financing,” Rodriguez told Grist. “There are resources available. It just also takes a will and an interest to want to invest in these issues.”

Others are pushing a slightly different approach.

“Public-private partnerships will be needed to solve this problem,” Gabriel told Washington Post. “The new project to bring water to Mexico City should be a project that is not affected by climate change, by drought.”

Residents, meanwhile, are worried.

Annika Rahia, also from Polanco, told the outlet “I was more surprised that it had never affected us before. But this year, it already reached us here too.”

Raiha said she and her husband are “very worried about the future with the climate change.”

“I don’t think a Day Zero is going to come,” Solano-Rojas told the outlet.

“Day Zero has already happened.”

Meanwhile, the heatwave has been so bad that in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, howler monkeys are falling from the trees due to apparent heat stroke.

At least 138 of the midsize primates, who are known for their roaring vocal calls, were found dead in Tabasco since 16 May according to the Biodiversity Conservation of The Usumacinta group.