Living with little water, the challenge of Monterrey, one of the richest cities in Mexico

Maria Celia Navarro, 73 years old, he smiles nostalgically when he remembers what it was like to bathe in the showera luxury now unthinkable due to the unprecedented scarcity of water that affects the Mexican city of Monterey (north).

Surrounded by majestic mountains and about 200 kilometers from the border with the United States, this city of 5.3 million inhabitants, capital of the prosperous state of Nuevo León, developed according to a first world model. unrelated to problems of lack of services or marginalizationchronic in other regions of Mexico.

But for several weeks and in the midst of a heat wave and little rain, Monterrey and its metropolitan area, the second largest city in the country, it only has running water a few hours a day.

In the neighborhoods built on the hills, the most disadvantaged add more than 50 days without seeing a drop in the tap.

The heat

“I have a great desire for water”, says Navarro, who enjoys delicate health and who, she confesses, lives “very depressed” locked up in her little house in the municipality of García, barely ventilated and which has a suffocating atmosphere since the morning. due to the temperature that borders on 40 degrees centigrade.

Never, say the elders of this neighborhood, the “royals” have had to live with little water.

Despite being a modern and thriving city, home to transnational corporations, there are few houses equipped with water tankscommon in other large cities such as Mexico City.

“They weren’t necessary,” sums up Javier Torres, a city councilor who watches over every day like trucks loaded with water They distribute in García to entire families who, including children, end up with buckets to get hold of the precious liquid.

Many have improvised containers inside their little houses faced with the impossibility of acquiring a large deposit due to skyrocketing prices.

With a semi-arid climate, every summer, when the average temperature hovers around 38 degrees Celsius, the state government must monitor the level of three damsits main source of supply.

According to data from the National Water Information System at the end of June, the most critical situation is recorded at the Cerro Prieto dam, less than 1% of its capacitywhile La Boca was 7% and El Cuchillo 44%.

Problems

“A very important crack has been generated in a gas pipeline” that connects to one of the dams, is one of the explanations given by Samuel García, the 34-year-old governor of Nuevo León, whose youth communication style has sparked criticism and ridicule acid with media. politicians.

Chemical bombardment of the few clouds which appear to cause rain, a remedy tried in other regions of Mexico, is one of the governor’s solutions.

“I am not Tlaloc (god of rain), but if the humidity comes today as we see and we hit the bombing (…) we have already scrubbed (we have solved) at least for a few weeks,” said proclaimed days ago.

But for the biologist Antonio Hernández, an expert on Monterrey’s environmental problems, in front of this prosperous city there is a “scenario of uncertainty” result of little rain in 15 months and the absence of a true water management policy.

The thriving industry, dominated by the production of soft drinks, beer, steel and cement, has undergone very few restrictions, like agricultural and livestock activities, he explains.

“Then they think about the radicalizations that companies must close, it seems to me that at this moment that phase is unthinkable (…) I am talking rather about regulations that must be applicable to all uses and this includes commercial ones”, explains Antonio Hernandez.

Last week, after negotiations with federal authorities, industrialists and farmers they decided to supply 37% of the water needed by the city.

“The companies have stopped working a few days a week just to take care of the water (…) there are companies that have sent us water to be able to supply some neighborhoods”, says councilor Javier Torres.

On the outskirts of the city, the La Boca Dam looks as empty as the dozen restaurants that sit on a modern boardwalk that was renovated a year ago and that seemed packed with visitors in the spring.

The photos of the dam displayed in the shops show a landscape worthy of a beach, with waves he understood that it was raining also threatened the restaurants.

Now only something like a desolate seabed remains, with muddy areas, remains of shells and boats displaying their propellers in the air.

“We were barely taking a break since the pandemic, but it was very short, almost nothing and drought begancomplains Adrian Luna, a 26-year-old waiter who fears horseback riding or boat trips on the dam will end up as a distant memory.

AFP agency

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