More water is not always the solution for a thirsty population because it doesn´t necessarily mean that it is drinkable water. The world is facing a very difficult challenge today that links directly to the amount of water available for consumption (like groundwater). Floods, global heating, overconsumption, industrial uses and other phenomenon that are causing depletion of reservoirs at a global level. Read on and find out how floods make it even worse.
The Mexico DF Example
The capital of the country, Mexico City is the home of over 21 million people that transform into 27 adding suburbs and surroundings. It has a growth expectation of 9 million people for the next ten years, meaning that by 2030, population will be of 30 million. The big challenge that the city faces in this moment is the water supply to provide it to that people at the turn of a tap.
The city´s infrastructure for water provision is in many cases too old and sometimes inadequate. According to recent studies the weather has become more erratic than ever before in the history of the country. The lack of rain in some regions coupled with extensive draught and the sudden floods that occur due to heavy rains are leaving the inhabitants as well as the government paralyzed in terms of planning and executing.
Although the city is at 2,000 meters above the sea level, it was originally constructed on an island surrounded by a huge lake. When it was invaded by Spanish colonizers, they were the ones that dried the lake down. Some sources claim it was to look for the lost gold of the Aztecs and others say that it was to continue building the city. Regardless of the theory we consider to be closest to the truth, the city has a huge natural reservoir running underneath. The problem with it is that it is being used too extensively and it is not being replenished because of the lack of rain in the dry season and the excess in the wet season.
What happens with the excess of rain that most specialists in the matter link to global warming is that it floods the sewage system and makes the served waters (dirty water) run wildly out and contaminating most homes as well as natural water courses. In this sense, water from the floods is not only a threat to the amount of clean water that can still be found in the city, but also to the sewage and water-distribution systems.
Another main issue regarding the sewage systems efficiency is the amount of rubbish that can be found on the streets and that ends up clogging the entire system. Imagine that the city produces at least 40,000 sewage liters a second and they all go into the same pipeline system called Emisor Central. The other pipe that takes care of the water supply is believed to have a loss of almost 40 percent in the distribution, making it completely impossible to cope with population increase. Certain districts and zones of the city have to receive water supplies in trucks and then carry them home on the back of their donkeys.
The only theory that can link all these symptoms together is that the effects that global warming is having on the population is much deeper than once though. In the case of Mexico City, the water supplies at the current consumption rate could last 30 to 50 more years which is a tranquilizer for people over 40, but what about the newer generations? What kind of a world are we planning to leave our children and their children?
Mexico City is just an example of a global trend that is becoming closer to irreversibility by the day. Floods, draughts, lack of drinkable water, overuse, concentration of the population due to money issues and huge financial interests are making the world we know and love a hostile place. If human kind doesn´t wake up from the lucid dream we are in, we are going to face deep consequences, those who remain alive to tell the story, of course.