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In recent weeks, the State and Mexico City have been going through a period of extreme water scarcity, with at least 280 colonies or neighborhoods affected of the more than 1,800 in the city.
Television reports show long lines of people waiting to buy water, dirty dishes piling up and people desperate for not being able to shower for days.
Drought disproportionately impacts women and girls, who are most commonly tasked with domestic tasks and are responsible for collecting water.
Faced with the crisis, citizens have blocked central avenues and taken to the streets with banners.
The problem is not new for Mexico City.
Decreased rainfall, groundwater depletion and poor management have posed challenges for several years.
But the seriousness of the situation is increasing.
Experts warn that “day zero” could be approaching in Mexico City, the moment when running water runs out and does not reach homes, something that, it is estimated, could occur in 2028.
The shortage is due to the fact that the basins that supply water to Mexico City, in particular the Lerma Cutzamala pumping and purification system - which provides 25% of the capital's water - are at historically low levels due to drought and climate change. .
But there are also serious failures in the supply system, poor historical management, as well as damage to infrastructure due to earthquakes, aging equipment and lack of maintenance, which cause 40% of the liquid to be lost in leaks.
Despite programs that have been launched to improve water systems, such as Water for All, a state initiative that aims to rehabilitate pipes and hydraulic infrastructure, the problem does not appear to be improving.
Some sources assure that there is no concrete plan to stop the crisis.
A group of volunteers cleans the contaminated waters of the Chico de los Remedios River, in Naucalpan, State of MexicoDaniel Estrada
Faced with this situation, citizen initiatives have emerged from people and groups who decided to take charge of this systematic problem, changing consumption habits and supporting the population.
It is not the perfect solution, but water harvesting, the rehabilitation of ecosystems and the reduction of waste are key to rebuilding people's bond with this resource.
Leaders of these initiatives emphasize that every daily action can have an impact on an increasingly scarce resource.
Rainwater harvesting
One of the most important initiatives is the collection and purification of rainwater.
Marco Sandoval is the founder of the Water for Happiness Foundation and director of Ion Ag+, organizations that install water collectors and purifiers to help communities collect and use rainwater for bathing, cooking, and cleaning.
Having worked as an engineer on large-scale water sanitation projects for hotels, Sandoval decided to bring his experience to the communities that need it most, adapting purification devices to their needs.
His initiatives have worked near Mexico City, in the central states of Michoacán, Tlaxcala and Veracruz, as well as in Chiapas, in the south, and further afield, in Chile.
“What we used to do for hotels obviously did not fit the needs of a community, where the uses, customs and infrastructure are completely different,” says Sandoval.
“People in a community want water that is immediate and many times they do not want the water to have chlorine.”
Ion Ag+ works with nanotechnology and uses ceramic spheres that generate an ionization reaction with integrated silver that eliminates bacteria and does not require electricity.
This way they avoid using chlorine, which is commonly used in purification but leaves residue.
Since 2013 they have supported more than 95,000 families to have access to water to date.
Thousands of people can now access water in their own homes.
“The first thing people notice with the system is that they no longer have to walk to look for water under the sun and that their feet or knees do not hurt due to the weight of the water they previously carried,” says Sandoval.
He adds that this is especially beneficial for women and children, who are often tasked with collecting water.
“The change from having to walk for two hours to having a water source right behind their houses is huge.”
In addition to providing communities with access to water, purifiers also help prevent diseases.
The consumption of contaminated water is the cause of death of 2.2 million children a year in developing countries: in 2019, it was estimated that more than 350 children under one year of age died in Mexico from this cause.
A man uses the Ion Ag+ system, a system that treats water using an ionization reaction to eliminate bacteria and residual chemicals.Ion Ag+ (Courtesy)
There are initiatives with massive scales such as Isla Urbana, an organization that offers water collection and purification to low-income people and rural communities around Mexico City.
They estimate that, since its launch in 2009, more than 584,000 people in the capital have gained access to water thanks to their activities.
One of the limitations of rainwater harvesting is that the technology may face limitations due to lack of rainfall.
In Mexico City and its surroundings, the rainy season is normally between May and November.
Citizen river cleaning
“Enchúlame el Río” is a citizen project created by Daniel Estrada, a social entrepreneur, who became interested in rivers ten years ago.
In Mexico and Spain he took cleaning courses and decided to clean the contaminated water of the Chico de los Remedios River in the municipality of Naucalpan, near his home.
Estrada understood that rivers are essential to the water system because they contribute to the recharge of aquifers, which is essential to ensure a sustainable water supply for the city.
He involved his community in his cleanup efforts, spreading the word about the river.
Now the 'enchuladas' occur on the last Saturday of each month.
Community members, representatives of businesses and organizations gather and, wearing rubber boots and gloves, remove garbage bags, diapers, tires and tons of trash from the river.
After ten years, Estrada affirms that they have managed to extract 250 tons of garbage and that has changed the course of the river - previously stagnant by waste.
The bad smell has improved and the community has seen more flora and fauna.
In addition to the impact on nature, community members have been given a purpose, says the entrepreneur, and other cleanup initiatives have been generated in the community.
Estrada remembers that at the beginning of the event it was difficult to get people to come, but as they saw its impact and the word spread, the project grew.
Currently they have up to 120 people per day, which has generated a feeling of belonging.
They are currently seeking the National Water Commission (Conagua) to install a working group to formalize their work.
Now they are looking to collaborate with other organizations to have water cleaning technologies such as biodigesters and a system with worms, among others.
Ecological toilets
One of the areas of highest water waste is conventional bathrooms.
A typical toilet can use up to 16 liters per flush.
Raimundo Acevedo Aguilar, industrial designer, became aware of the enormous amount of water that was being wasted and decided to create his own dry bathroom at home.
For more than five years he has been collecting human waste, separating solids from liquids.
To avoid odors he uses sawdust or any natural dry fiber.
He then applies techniques to produce high-quality compost, which he uses to fertilize land and contribute to regenerative agriculture projects.
“Water is not a conveyor belt of waste: it is a conveyor belt of life,” says Acevedo.
“Water is not prepared to treat organic matter, so human waste should not enter the water cycle.”
He claims that an ecological toilet system can save more than 15,000 liters of water per person per year.
After some initial successes, Acevedo began sharing his experiences with friends, family and on the Internet, and organizing events to promote his proposals.
He assures that the project has managed to change the practices of a group of people from his same community, who have been inspired and adopted dry bathing in Mexico City.
He also founded the Live Dry Toilet User Network organization where thousands of people share best water use practices.
For people who do not have the ability to install their own toilets, there is a larger scale WC Eco service, which installs dry toilets in a contemporary style in Mexico City and other cities in the country, and has a collection service. of waste, which is processed and used for agriculture.
It also has a course and workshop service for users where all questions they may have about operation and concerns about bad odor or disinfection of waste are answered.
WC Eco estimates that, with this service, more than 15 million liters of water have been saved since 2017 and more than 180,000 kg of fertile land have been generated with the compost.
Attendees at the workshop on ecological toilets in Mexico City. Raimundo Acevedo (Courtesy)
Small changes, big impacts
These initiatives, despite being still incipient, are invaluable in promoting water savings and encouraging a change in habits in a future marked by scarcity.
The serious water problem in Mexico is that efforts are currently focusing on extending the drinking water network without ensuring the distribution of the liquid, leaving sanitation in second place, the president of the Water in Mexico association Juan Francisco Bustamante recently told a local medium.
He added that future plans focus on building more dams and aqueducts, and on adapting and modernizing the supply infrastructure, without considering other areas of the natural water cycle.
According to the expert, it is essential to change the approach to the use of the resource to focus public policies on the reuse of the liquid and capture of precipitation, taking into account the virtuous cycle of water.
In this sense, citizen initiatives have keys that could contribute to public policies that take into account the rehabilitation of aquifer systems, the health of rivers, the collection and purification of water, the reuse and the best use of the resource and its resources. natural cycles.
This article was published in partnership with
Diálogo Chino.