Bogota starts rationing water as reservoirs run low

DW (English)

A spate of hot, dry weather has left the Colombian capital dangerously short of water. Authorities have now sounded the alarm, dividing the city into districts which take turns shutting off water. People have been urged to cut consumption to a minimum, to keep reservoirs from running out.

Transcript

00:00Washing the dishes with a bare minimum of water.

00:04This is the new normal for many in Bogotá, as the city has begun rationing the precious resource.

00:10Diana Villadas' family lives in one of the districts that is the first to experience a 24-hour water cut-off.

00:17They try to use as little water as possible and have filled buckets before the outage.

00:23There is the fear that this could become a regular occurrence,

00:27that the water in the reservoirs really drops and there really will be no water left for us.

00:37Just one look at one of Bogotá's main reservoirs shows that saving every drop of water is paramount.

00:43The San Rafael Reservoir is at a critical low.

00:47The whole area here should be covered in water, but as you can see,

00:50I can easily walk through the middle of the reservoir here outside Bogotá.

00:55And it's actually that this water here supplies 70% of the population in Bogotá and surroundings,

01:01but currently it only holds 16% of the water capacity.

01:05And if it doesn't drain and people don't reduce their water consumption,

01:09what is left could vanish in little more than a month.

01:12There are several reasons for the critically low levels.

01:15The usually strong regional rainfall has been almost absent since last year

01:20due to the El Niño phenomenon and climate change.

01:23But these haven't been the only factors leading to the current crisis.

01:27In recent years, the consumption of water in Bogotá has risen as the city continues to grow.

01:33And the government needs to better plan and regulate its resources

01:36as well as take care of the local ecosystems, says Carlos Mauricio Herrera of the WWF.

01:45We need to understand our dependence on nature.

01:48That is what this crisis is basically showing us.

01:51Without management, protection and conservation of the Andean forests

01:55and the wetlands we depend on, the shortages will get worse.

02:00But Bogotá's Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán says

02:03individuals will also have to do what they can to avert an impending catastrophe.

02:09If we don't succeed in reducing consumption,

02:13we will not only have to uphold restrictions, but we will need to tighten them.

02:18Keep baths and showers short, a maximum of five minutes.

02:22You can really do it in less time.

02:25Just do it.

02:27This is 58% of our water consumption.

02:31It's all an outlook that makes Diana Villada apprehensive about her son's future.

02:38It is one of the things that I ask myself when I look at him.

02:41Why did I bring him into this world?

02:44However, Colombia is still one of these privileged places.

02:48But we know that we need to do something

02:51so that our children can still enjoy part of the paradise we have here.

02:55Her son is learning to be mindful about his water consumption,

02:59but Bogotá's water crisis will likely last a while,

03:02until much needed rain comes again.

Category

Transcript

Recommended