Mexico’s water supply is worsening drought in ears, endangered crops Climate News

The long-term drought, which has lasted two-thirds of Mexico, will worsen in the coming weeks with high-temperature forecasts and warnings about crop damage and water supply shortages, including in Mexico City’s populous capital.

Experts have sounded the alarm on June 30 after temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104F) in some parts of northern Mexico, at major crop sites, where crops grown could be reduced.

“In some states, irrigation is almost disappearing due to lack of rainfall,” said Rafael Sanchez Bravo, a water expert at Chapingo Autonomous University, who has reduced water transfers to low-lying reservoirs and farms.

The drought in Mexico is similar to that in the western United States and Canada, where crop yields are threatened and water rationing has been established amid extreme heat. global climate change.

Nearly 500 people died in western Canada last week when temperature records were set life-threatening conditions for the elderly and vulnerable groups. In the U.S., the heat disrupted highways, disrupted public transportation, and caused power outages.

Although rainfall was below average in Mexico last year, water supply tensions have risen as a result of rising domestic demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, a U.S. government report showed last month.

Hope to complete the Mexican reservoirs set up it is now associated with the traditional rainy season, now known as the North American muxoia.

“The next three months will be crucial to how this drought is created,” said Andreas Prein, an Atmospheric Research Scientist at the National Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Much of Mexico leaves between 50 and 80 percent of its annual rainfall between July and September.

Water scarcity is common in some parts of Mexico, but the extreme heat attributed to climate change has worsened, according to data provided by scientists and CONAGUA, Mexico’s federal water commission.

About 70 percent of Mexico suffers from drought, less than half of December. About a fifth of the country has been experiencing extreme drought since 2012 with less than 5 percent.

Experts fear the drought will reach 22 million people in the Mexico City subway area as it is drowned by a network of reservoirs. In some districts there is no piped drinking water at the best of times.

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“I have no doubt that there will be a crisis in 2022,” said Sanchez, who predicts potential social unrest. “The reservoirs are completely depleted.”

Sanchez encourages local authorities to make investments to collect rainfall for home use.

According to CONAGUA data, Villa Victoria, a major source for Mexico City, was home to 77 of the 210 reservoirs with a capacity of less than 25 percent. Cracked lake beds can be seen in other parts of the city.

Images taken by a European Commission satellite reveal the depletion at Villa Victoria on June 15 this year, when June 30 last year was already half empty.

This time last year, there were 56 reservoirs of less than 25 percent. Two years ago, there were only 40 of them.

The drought has prompted the government to grow clouds with silver iodide in a trio of northern agricultural states (Sinaloa, Sonora and Chihuahua) over the next three months, with the aim of causing rain with the help of specially equipped airplanes. statement from the ministry of agriculture.

But the goal of producing 28 million tonnes of corn this year is at stake.

“The scenario is pessimistic and we can’t deny that we are concerned,” a senior agriculture ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

Scientists can find it difficult to attribute it to a single event climate change, but extreme droughts say researchers are warming the global temperature caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

The heat drains moisture from the soil.

“It simply came to our notice then. If you’re in a very dry region like western Mexico and you increase the temperature, you lose a lot of water through evaporation, ”Prein added.