Despite alarming reports from the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, CNN, and NPR that Mexico City is facing a "Day Zero" on or around June 26th, where the 22 million residents that call Mexico City home will no longer have access to running water, it appears the hype doesn't match the reality on the ground. In fact, the region is actually beset with rainfall, ironically starting around June 26th with the appearance of Tropical Storm Alberto, which is expected to provide between five and ten inches of rain over the next seven days.

Also, according to Juan Bezaury, a former associate director at the Nature Conservancy in Mexico, as quoted in the Scientific American, "Day Zero [was] a bit of an exaggeration, [actually] Mexico City, North America's largest city, is facing the exhaustion of the Cutzamala aqueduct system, which brings the metropolis up to 25 percent of its water." However, poor water management, as opposed to climate change appears to be the real reason behind the drought scare.

 

What Led to The Dire Water Situation
In Mexico City, much of their water comes from an aquifer on top of where the city also sits, which has led the region to sink, in some places by up to 20 inches a year. This has created a unique situation. Scientific American shows that groundwater is vanishing and last year's dry, arid season has made the situation worse. Still, the current drought has only existed for the past year or so, preceded by several years of above-average rainfall. So, climate change isn't the main culprit; instead, this aqueduct system is losing up to 40% of its water every day just to leaks.

Water Quality, Infrastructure, and Research
Mexico is no stranger to drought. In fact, according to the American Meteorological Society, Mexico has experienced severe drought every 18.9-21 years since the 1400s. Bringing us to the point that rain is not a solution, droughts happen, and mismanagement of resources is really to blame.

Much like in California and the Southwestern U.S. where, when droughts occur, conservation is the common reaction, Mexico and the alarmist media should focus on making their water management systems better, planning for water retention, and prioritize better practices.

Hopefully the current rainstorm and the ensuing hurricane season will eliminate the drought situation, much as the past two seasons of rainfall have taken California from drought to abundance. The lesson is that droughts occur naturally, populations are increasing, and water management is and will be a primary issue facing us here at home and around the world in developing nations.