With 25 percent less rainfall than expected this year, three-quarters of Mexico is now experiencing some level of drought, according to the National Water Commission (Conagua).
Although states such as Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Nuevo León have been the worst hit by water shortages in recent years, the issue is now starting to affect the lives of the nation’s largest metropolis: Mexico City.
With 93 percent of the Valle de Mexico now considered to be in drought and local reservoirs at startlingly low levels, officials in the capital last week imposed severe, month-long cuts to Mexico City’s water supply.
According to Conagua, 1,521 of Mexico’s 2,471 municipalities are registered with “a drought condition,” of which 629 are listed under the category of “anormalmente secos” (abnormally dry).
While meteorologists attribute this year’s lack of rain to the weather phenomena El Niño, as well as the Earth’s natural variability for precipitation that typically occurs on average every seven years, most tend to agree that the intensity of drought in Mexico is being exacerbated by climate change.
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