Water is becoming a precious and increasingly scarce commodity for lakeside area residents as the spring dry season takes holds.
Alfredo Arana Hernández, general director of Chapala’s Simapa water and sewage utility, reveals that the agency is facing diverse challenges to keep the community’s water supply flowing during the period of the year when water tables tend to drop dramatically. He points out that the situation is aggravated by greater demand from a growing populace.
Last month Simapa installed extra lengths of pipe to draw water from the Cascada and Lourdes wells that supply households in the heavily populated sectors of Chapala.
Water scarcity has also recently hit San Antonio Tlayacapan and residential areas on the western outskirts of Ajijic, as well as many parts of neighboring Jocotepec.
The days and hours of service in many neighborhoods are subject to cutbacks for the duration of the dry season, Arana reports. He recommends that inhabitants observe conservation measures such as repairing leaky plumbing, restricting garden sprinkling hours, and refraining from wasteful practices of hosing down streets, sidewalks and patios.
Arana says that studies are being carried out for future plans to dig new wells in San Antonio and Santa Cruz de la Soledad. He also acknowledges that the construction of new housing developments will significantly increase demand on Simapa’s water supply and sewage systems.