Mexico City: water, water everywhere but...

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Global warming is exacerbating drought conditions in parts of California and the American West. In Mexico City, officials are worried about the opposite problem: too much rain.

The rainy season has begun with a vengeance here in the nation’s capital. Newspapers have been filled with photos of cars trapped in water-filled tunnels and of hapless homeowners tossing their soggy belongings. The usual afternoon storms are spilling into the night and early morning. La Plaza goes nowhere without its trusty paraguas, as an umbrella is known in Spanish.

Annual rainfall now registers about 35 inches a year, up from 24 inches a year in the early 20th century, according to Martha Delgado, Mexico City’s environment chief, who cited the figures at a recent news conference. She blamed climate change for the increase as well as for the growing intensity of the capital’s storms.

The cruel irony of all this wet stuff is that Mexico City is so in need of potable water. The megalopolis has overexploited the aquifers that lie beneath its surface. It’s now swiping water from lakes and watersheds hundreds of miles away. Little effort is made to capture and store the city’s abundant rainfall. Leaks and waste are chronic.

Meanwhile, thousands of poor residents in Mexico have no running water. They are the same ones who will be grabbing buckets and bailing for their lives when torrential rains pound their homes this season.

Posted by Marla Dickerson in Mexico City