Mexico City faces a possible catastrophic water crisis

The City of Mexico is facing potential water crisis, catastrophic order, if not invest enough money Humert Armenta, General Manager of Constructora RECSA, said Tuesday that the distribution network needed to be repaired to operate under optimal conditions.

To reverse the degradation of the network in the Mexican capital, you need a sustained investment of 5,000 million pesos a year($ 264 million) over the next 30 years.

"We are no longer at the moment, we are already very late," said Armenta. "We are facing a potential crisis, a catastrophic orderin Mexico if we do not work on the water problem, "he added.

The expert warned that by not tackling the problems of hydraulic network, "the network degradation is advancing and the solution is late and the gap is widening. "

For example, he put sinkholes, the subsidence produced in the soil due to an undercurrent and the seismic vulnerability which affects the metropolis.

The hydraulic network of the Mexican capital includes an extension of about 13,500 kilometers, of which about 40% of the lost drinking water is extracted from the two local aquifers or systems of Lerma Aqueductas well as Lerma and Cutzamala systems, which serves some 9,000,000 people.

According to the authorities, 80% of the population capital of the hydraulic network, which is pumped 31,000 liters per second, has an average age of 60 years

Armenta recalled that this year the Mexico City Water System (Sacmex) will invest a total of 5,977 million pesos (315.6 million USD).

He explained that the efficiency of the network, as a national average, is 25% for each cubic meter which is injected into the network in this capital.

"Why do you want to bring water from where it stays, if 75% is lost in the distribution? ", questioned the engineer, who explained that the supply crisis d & # 39; water24 hours a day, seven days a week, can be solved "by urgent means", such as water supply or distribution by pipes, "but the ideal is to have the hydraulic network in optimal conditions" .

Armenta, whose company aims to raise awareness of the need to invest around the world hydraulic system, badured that the Mexican capital is "too much vulnerable and exposed to risks, which have low resilience and are therefore at very high risk.

Water crisis in the country

In March, the National University of Mexico reported on the occasion of the World Water Day, that he 10% of the Mexican population does not have access to drinking water, and said that between 12.5 and 15 million people suffer from the lack of resources of the country of Latin America.

The lack of drinking water occurs mainly in rural areasbut also in marginalized areas big cities. In addition, about 30% of people who receive the liquid do not get it with sufficient quantity or quality.