Water-saving tip of the month

One of the most common-sense ways you can save water is to put a bucket in the shower stall or tub when you bathe. Use the bucket to catch water while you rinse, lather and wash off. Then, when you use the toilet, instead of pulling the flush lever, dump the water down the bowl, and the pressure the falling water creates pushes all the waste down the drain…use the whole bucket if there are solid things…

You can also reused boiled water after you cook things like pasta. If you collect pure water, you can also use it to feed your plants, throw it at street vendors who block sidewalks and subway station entrances or put the bucket in your room to create humidity, which has been lacking in Mexico City these months.

We've started collecting water in January, after the city announced it would cut water off three days per month to about half of residents until the rainy season. Luckily, we haven’t been affected, but in water-scarce D.F. you never know when te lo van a cortar.

Giant, black water tanks sit on roofs of most houses and buildings here, aka Rotoplas, and the super-noisy bomba pumps water into the tanks, so even if the city cuts you off, you still probably have a few litros waiting in the Rotoplas.

H2-no

The National Water Commission (Conagua) announced today it would cut water supply to more than 5.5 million people in Mexico City and the state of Mexico three days each month from now until May, according to El Universal.

Conagua says the suspension is due to water reserve shortages, which are at 62 percent capacity when they should be at 85 percent capacity at this time of the year. Even though it’s dry season now, it hasn’t rained in an unusually long time …. I can’t remember the last time it did – maybe in October?

The only way reserves will get back to normal levels is if it rains.

Hmm…rings a bell. Maybe human sacrifice will solve the problem? Let’s summon Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god. I’m reading “Aztec” by Garry Jennings right now, and coincidentally just passed the part which details how there was famine and drought for the longest time, but the indigenous nations waged a peaceful war in order to capture enemies and sacrifice them to the gods, hoping for rain. It worked.

Seriously though, lacking water – even for a day – is one of the most frustrating things you can imagine, right behind long lines and banking bureaucracy. Three days doesn’t sound like much, but it becomes exaggeratedly long when you think about all the things you use water for – bathing, shaving, brushing your teeth, washing dishes, cooking. It’s time to start hoarding water, and perhaps sacrificing a few ambulantes, taxistas and delinquents.

These purposeful water suspensions reflect poor governing. Mexico City has grown exponentially in the past 60 years, with unprepared urban planning. I wouldn’t be opposed to paying more for water, but at the same time, people waste too much.

Mexico City alone wastes enough water to fill 20 Aztec Olympic Stadiums, and that’s only taking into account leaks and run-offs…imagine what people waste when they wash dishes, brush their teeth or “water” the sidewalks – a futile and common site here.

We’re in big trouble if we can’t manage and conserve our fresh water. Many experts say the next war won’t be for oil, but for water…and it’s looking more likely with shortages like this.