The Catholic Church in Mexico warned that the water shortage crisis is serious and affects the most disadvantaged sectors of the country.
"Water, a source of life and so necessary for man's subsistence, is not managed properly and the poorest are the ones who suffer most from its scarcity," the Church denounced in the editorial of its weekly magazine Desde la Fe.
This week, the National Water Commission (Conagua) of Mexico and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) declared the beginning of an emergency due to severe or extreme drought.
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According to Conagua data, 95% of the municipalities of Chihuahua and Coahuila have shortages, being the most affected in the entire Mexican territory.
However, Monterrey is one of the demarcations that have received the most media attention as it is the second most populous city in Mexico and where its inhabitants only have six hours a day of pumping.
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This has caused the residents of the northern cities to line up at dawn in front of the water intakes to guarantee water for their families and even
"in a sign of desperation, there are citizens who have hijacked trucks
," the Mexican Church mentioned.
Panic queues to buy drinking water have also been documented in border cities due to the scarcity that has alerted the population in the midst of the hottest months, where entities such as Baja California Sur, Baja California and Sonora
reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees centigrade) and demand skyrockets
.
José Luis Luege Tamargo, former head of Conagua, also warned that the lack of water that has affected the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León in recent months should be a national "wake-up call", since several entities in the country are at risk of spending for this same situation soon.
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The Catholic Church pointed out that the drought is not limited to the border or northern cities of Mexico, since even Mexico City also has its own water crisis "although it is not yet at the level of what is happening in the north."
He pointed out that this scarcity is due to "a growing population, which occupies more and more water and is extracted from an overexploited aquifer system."
"This crisis should put us into action, because it's not just their problem. Let's remember that 'everything is connected,' as the motto of Laudato Si Week 2020 says, based on the encyclical on the environment written by Pope Francis," he said. .
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The Mexican Church invited civil society to take care of this invaluable resource, but also the authorities so that they not only make the water reach the entire Latin American country, but also take concrete actions for its correct use.
According to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi),
almost one in three households in Mexico does not have daily access to drinking water
.
The Mexican states most affected by dry seasons are Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, the Yucatan Peninsula and the Valley of Mexico.
With information from EFE and
Without Embargo