BOGOTÁ (AP) — Bogotá will have water rationing in the coming days due to the low level of the reservoirs that supply more than seven million inhabitants, the most drastic measure that a Colombian city has taken this year in the face of an El Niño phenomenon that It affects the entire country.
“We are in a critical situation, on red alert, that is why we have to take measures,” Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán told the press on Thursday, who pointed out that they are analyzing what the schedules and areas in which food will be rationed will be. water before announcing the details of the measure.
Colombia is still dealing with the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, which brings with it a decrease in rainfall and an increase in temperatures. The Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad, explained on Thursday that the entire country must save water and energy in the last phase of the climatic event that has caused low rainfall, a situation that she expects to last for three more weeks.
“We are seeing the cumulative impacts and they will be reflected in the availability of drinking water… also in the energy system, which has remained balanced due to the start-up of thermoelectric plants,” said Muhamad.
At the national level, neither water rationing nor power cuts have been announced. The average level of reservoirs in the country is 31%, according to the Ministry of Mines.
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Andrés Camacho, assured from his account on the social network drinking water to homes and agriculture.
The Chingaza system reported on Wednesday a cumulative 16% in its dams, with a downward trend, according to the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Cundinamarca, environmental authority in the area.
On average, Bogotá consumes 18 cubic meters per second and the authorities require that consumption be reduced. The mayor said that with a water saving campaign that they have been promoting since January, they managed to save about one cubic meter per second, which “is insufficient.”