Bogotá rations water in the face of serious drought and reservoirs at historic lows

Water rationing by sectors begins this Thursday in the Colombian capital as a consequence of the drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon which has left the reservoirs that supply the city at historic lows.

The objective of the measure, according to the authorities, is to reduce consumption from 18 cubic meters per second to 2 cubic meters, in order to achieve a saving of 11% in water demand.

The critical level of the reservoirs in charge of supplying water to the Colombian capital is the lowest that has been recorded in the last 40 years, with two of these operating with 16.52% and 18.47% of their capacities.

The San Rafael reservoir, which visited the Voice of America, It has a storage capacity of just over 68 million cubic meters of water, but is currently storing 12 million cubic meters, that is, 18% of its capacity.

The cuts will last 24 hours per sector in the towns of Bogotá, as the city districts are known. Only one town, Usme, located south of the city, will not apply the restrictions.

“Let us assume a position of conscience regarding each drop of water and the importance of saving what we have left and using it in the toilet or in the washing machine, and obviously that starting Thursday we will all be very conscious about saving,” he said. to the Voice of America Natasha Avendaño, manager of the Bogotá aqueduct company.

Bogotá launched a series of savings recommendations to users, such as showers of between three and five minutes, and turning off the faucet while washing dishes or brushing teeth.

Merchants and families are preparing for these rationing in the service during the next two weeks.

“We are collecting water in buckets, pots, jugs, whatever we can to be prepared for the shortage,” he told VOA Mariela Giraldo, resident of Bogotá.

“It is a good measure to raise people's awareness about caring for water, I think it can help us as citizens to prepare in case an eventual case arises where water scarcity is a little more severe,” said Angélica Luque.

Others believe that the decision, far from contributing to savings, can lead people to consume more water.

“It is a measure that what is going to achieve is that people, instead of saving water, consume more water, because generally at this moment one is collecting more water and on the contrary of saving it will generate more expenses,” said Luis Arias, another citizen of the capital.

For Rosario del Carmen Cortés, it is a decision that could affect some food businesses, “due to the hygiene measures that a restaurant must maintain,” for example.

“We cannot work with stagnant water. I have two huge pots and I'm going to work with those two pots as long as they give me. “I cannot put a person's health at risk by working with stagnant water,” Cortés said.

At the end of April, when the restrictions end and the levels of the reservoirs are analyzed again, the Bogotá mayor's office will analyze whether it is necessary to tighten the measures or extend the rationing until the goal of 11% is reached.

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