Bogotá, Sep 20 (EFE).- The Mayor’s Office of Bogotá announced on Friday that water rationing in the Colombian capital has been tightened since last April, due to the fact that rainfall and the reduction in consumption have been below expectations.
“The rains that were expected in Bogotá did not arrive. The months of July, August and September, which are rainy months in Bogotá, have been unusually dry this year,” said the city’s mayor, Carlos Fernando Galán, at a press conference.
Therefore, “the decision we have made is to return to the rationing scheme every day,” said the mayor, noting that The 24-hour water cuts in each of the nine zones into which the city was divided will be made every ten days and not every 18 days, as until now.
“As of September 29, the city will once again have daily rationing (…) a cycle will be repeated every ten days,” added the mayor regarding the start of the new phase of restrictive measures.
Day zero
Galán added that another measure adopted is the definition of a “day zero for Bogotá” if the level of the network of reservoirs that supply water to this city of more than eight million inhabitants does not improve in the coming weeks, which will lead to even more stringent rationing.
“Day zero will be reached when the Chingaza system reaches 36% (of its capacity), which is currently at 45.4%. If the Chingaza level reaches that point, we will have to take more restrictive measures than those we are taking today,” said the official.
The goal of the Bogotá Mayor’s Office was to reach October with the Chingaza system reservoirs at 70% of their capacity, but to date it is 24.6 points below.
“We must try to reduce these risks, but it does not depend only on us. We have seen that a great effort has been made to reduce consumption in Bogotá, but we need citizens to make an additional effort,” said the mayor.
La Niña’s absence
In this regard, Mayor Galán pointed out that the La Niña phenomenon, which according to meteorologists’ forecasts would begin in July, has not brought the expected rains to Bogotá and its surrounding areas.
“La Niña did not arrive in July, it did not arrive in August and it has not arrived in September,” Galán said.
The mayor stressed that “this is the driest year we have seen since 1995,” with the difference that 1994 was a very rainy year, which allowed water to accumulate in the reservoirs for 1995, while 2023 was a dry year, just like this one.
“These are two years of low rainfall (2023 and 2024),” Galán explained, and in light of this situation, other measures will be taken to reduce daily water consumption.
These measures include a ban on using drinking water to wash building facades and vehicles, to fill ornamental tanks and to water gardens, activities that “can only be done with recycled water or rainwater” and sanctions will be imposed on those who fail to comply with the law.
“This dry weather has brought a significant increase in fires and this forces us to close the trails (in the mountains) of the city to avoid emergencies due to fires,” added the mayor, explaining another of the restrictive measures.
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2024-09-22 07:56:43
