Name: Mexico City is running out of water. Here’s why and how millions of residents are affected
Uploaded: 2024-03-03T23:41:24.000Z
Duration: 5 min 24 s
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Modal verbs - A2

Mexico City one of the world's most populous  cities could be just months away from running  

out of water it's been brought on by  a combination of geography mushrooming  

Past simple

growth and leaky infrastructure all compounded  by the effects of climate change Emily green  

is a journalist based in Mexico City who's covered  the story for NPR Emily what's the situation there  

now what's daily life like now uh for instance  for you you live there in Mexico City are there  

are there restrictions on water use there are  restrictions on water use I think it very much  

depends where you live in the city and that is  maybe like the entire world you know if you have  

more money and uh you're going to feel the impact  of the water shortage much less that said I think  

what's unique right now is that it is being felt  Citywide and I'll just use myself as an example I  

live in one of the more upscale neighborhoods  of Mexico City and while reporting this story  

The Water stopped flowing from the top I mean I  had a sink full of dishes zero water coming for  

me it was a little shocking I haven't had that  happen in a while but that is actually a daily  

reality for many people in in Mexico City what  are the factors that brought us to this point  

I would say that there is two major factors one  is extremely old infrastructure in terms of the  

water pipes so the city loses around 40% of the  water it receives because of leaks in the pipes  

and that's been a longstanding problem but on  top of that compounding that is climate change  

and that is really what's happening right here  you have this very volatile combination of old  

infrastructure combined with climate change which  means there have been years of much less rainfall  

than normal so the levels of the reservoir that  provide the water to Mexico City they're they're  

very low and so that's what's happening now this  kind of volatile combination and you say that  

leakage has been a problem for a long time has  anyone tried to do anything about it oh yeah I  

remember I was here in 2018 and they the city shut  off the water supply in order to try and address  

these leaks that was one of the first water  stories I did in Mexico City was at that time  

but of course we're still having the same issues  so it doesn't seem to have made a huge difference  

and you said earlier that people who are better  off feel it less than people who may be in need  

is that because of the resources they have or  is it the parts of the city that are affected  

both I visited one area it's called eatc it is  in the greater Metropolitan Mexico City and in  

this neighborhood they haven't had running water  for two years now in the running water that they  

do have it comes out it it looks dark brown  and it smelled like sewage so that is a that  

example of where they're living in the city has  a Major Impact but I think on top of that what's  

happening is that if the water is not coming from  the tap people are buying it from private water  

tanks they're having it trucked in on private  water tanks and it's just a fact that that $70  

that one spend is going to impact you more or  less depending on much how much money you have  

so it's that combination of where you live and  also how much money you can afford to spend on  

trucks private trucks bringing in water and paying  for that what are the potential effects on schools  

hospitals homes what are the the people worrying  about you know if you don't have water you can't  

flush the toilet you can't do the dishes you  can't wash clothes I mean Al let go on and on  

and so it does have a massive impact the former  Chief resilience officer of Mexico City said that  

climate change is really the greatest risk to  Mexico City and I think that that is coming to  

Bear right now and if climate change is the  greatest risk it sounds like there is there  

anything anyone can do about this right now yeah  you can use less water and I think that there can  

be measures taken to ensure that individuals use  less water but also factories use less water I  

think also this issue of the old infrastructure is  a is a really serious one and I think that steps  

can be taken to improve the in the infrastructure  so I I would say it's again it's there's no Silver  

Bullet to to what's going on right now the the  causes are very varied and the solutions are  

also going to be varied has anyone said that  if nothing changes have they predicted when  

Taps are just going to run dry in Mexico City  I mean that's the Talk of the Town here is what  

they call day zero this is the idea that the  Taps are essentially going to run completely  

dry the date that's being thrown out there is at  the end of June most of the experts that I talk  

to say that's unlikely to happen the reservoirs  that Supply a great percentage of Mexico City's  

water they're not the only source of water there's  also underground aquifers so it's unlikely that  

the city is going to completely run out of water  but this is a very very very serious crisis and  

it is not as if we know that next year there's  going to be a huge amount of rainfall so if this  

drought continues I don't even want to imagine  where we're going to be in a year or two or three  

Emily Green in Mexico City where they're running  out of water thank you very much