Mexico City is currently experiencing severe drought and water scarcity, to the extent that a rainwater catchment basin caught fire and burned 75 acres of dried-out vegetation on Tuesday.

The Mexico City fire department reported that the fire was contained by late afternoon, but images released by the department depicted a layer of smoke still covering the flat valley.

A fire ignited late on Monday on the northwest side of the city, affecting the El Cristo basin. These basins are built to contain overflow from storm drains.

The city is situated in a high mountain valley without any natural outlet, making it prone to sudden floodings caused by heavy rain. The artificial drains often get overwhelmed, but the catchment basins offer some protection.

Usually, after rainfall, the fields are lush and green. In the past, residents have even utilized them as makeshift soccer fields or for their livestock to graze on.

In 2023, the valley of central Mexico experienced lower-than-usual levels of rainfall. As a result, the Cutzamala reservoirs located on the outskirts of the city are only at approximately 30% of their maximum capacity, with some even lower. These three reservoirs make up about a quarter of the water supply for over 20 million people living in the Mexico City metropolitan area. The majority of the remaining water is obtained from wells within the city.

In October, authorities in Mexico initiated a restriction of approximately 8% on water from the reservoirs and declared an additional 25% reduction in November. It is expected that significant rainfall will not occur for approximately three months.

According to authorities, the decrease in rainfall was attributed to El Niño and heat waves. However, they also mentioned that the ongoing drought over the past four years has been worsening and gradually depleting reservoir levels.

Research has indicated that climate change leads to more intense El Niño events, resulting in periods of reduced precipitation.

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Source: wral.com