Bogotá is known in Colombia as “the fridge,” but lately it has been anything but cold. A strong El Niño phenomenon, the usual dry season and higher temperatures as a result of climate change, have joined forces to turn a rainy and cold city – according to Colombian standards – into a city with clear skies, an almost hot climate and of environmental crises. At the beginning of the year, these same factors generated dozens of forest fires inside and outside the Colombian capital. Only three months later, several experts explain to EL PAÍS that they are now the main causes of a water crisis that has Bogota residents living with water rationing measures for a week, and that, according to them, will continue until the rains.
Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán announced the restrictions on April 8, when the storage level of the Chingaza System, which under normal conditions supplies 70% of the city’s water, was around 17%. Ten days later, the level is at 15.28%, after decreasing every day and reaching the lowest point in 40 years. The manager of the Bogotá Aqueduct and Sewer Company, Natasha Avendaño, explains by teleconference that the situation is “critical” and that the Chingaza System has been depleted much faster than expected. “When we closed the year we were in El Niño and the level of the Chingaza system was around 42%, which was not a critical level. We were not even on yellow alert. According to the forecasts, towards the end of February it could start to rain and El Niño would end, but that has not happened,” she says.
Benjamin Quesada, a climatologist at the Universidad del Rosario, assures that the speed with which the reservoirs decreased “is very worrying.” He maintains that this speed is due to the lack of rain and high temperatures caused by a “particularly dry” El Niño, which has resulted in much more water evaporating than normal. However, unlike Avendaño, he says it is not a surprise that it has not rained: “This has not been anticipated enough. “You could see it coming.”
Quesada argues that the scientific community set off the alarm in July of last year, when El Niño began, a phenomenon that usually causes droughts in Colombia, especially in high mountain areas. “Unfortunately, we lacked prevention,” he says. He says that the Mayor’s Office, then headed by Claudia López, did not implement rationing or education measures for the population to prepare for something that, according to him, the researchers already knew was going to happen. Now, with a Chingaza System reaching historic lows every day, he highlights that, beyond restricting water use, there is not much to do: “Only the sky can save us.”
The Girl, to the rescue
Newsletter
The analysis of current events and the best stories from Colombia, every week in your mailbox
RECEIVE THE
Juan Carlos Benavides, doctor in ecosystem ecology and professor at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, agrees that prevention was lacking: “Politicians trusted the most optimistic projections, which said it could rain in March. But according to the models, the expectations were that it would not rain until April or May, which means that we are within the expectations of a year ago.” He also adds that it is likely that the restriction measures will continue and be tightened even when it rains again in Bogotá and its surroundings, such as in the Chingaza national natural park, to the east of the city. “The reservoirs are going to fill up little by little, so this rationing is going to have to extend for at least a couple of months,” he says. However, he says that there may be a relatively close end point: from July onwards the La Niña phenomenon will begin, which will generate a lot of precipitation in Colombia.
While Bogota residents eagerly await the rain, Aqueduct Manager Avendaño says the company is doing everything it can to reduce pressure on the Chingaza System. The company has drastically reduced the contributions of that system, which is supplying only 50% of the water of the metropolis of eight million inhabitants and its neighboring municipalities. The other half is coming from the Tibitoc plant, which usually supplies a quarter of the capital’s water with sources located further north in Chingaza Park. Avendaño emphasizes that at this moment they are carrying out optimization works on that system, which she foresees will be completed in December. According to her, these works will increase Tibitoc’s available cubic meters of water from 7.5 per second to 10.5 per second. “That is going to help us a lot with the Chingaza situation,” she says.
The three interviewees agree that, in addition to the sky, ordinary citizens also have to do their part. Mayor Galán announced this Monday fines for water waste by private individuals: among other measures, there will be additional charges on the bill for households that use more than double the basic water consumption, which is 22 cubic meters per month.
Precisely, 80% of water consumption occurs among residential users, according to data from the Acueducto. 58% of that use is for personal hygiene. For this reason, Avendaño is emphatic about the need for short showers, a maximum of three minutes. The goal, he assures, is that there is water for everyone, and that the Chingaza System reaches the end of the year with a supply level of 75%. “With that we know we can get through the next year with peace of mind,” she says.
Long term solutions
On the other hand, scientists argue that it is not enough to simply think in the short or medium term, something that can be difficult for Aqueduct managers, since the person in charge of the company usually changes every four years, when a new mayor is elected. “We may reach 75% by the end of the year, we may not. But the question one asks is: “In 10 years what?” says Benavides.
He states that it is necessary for the city, and with it the entire country, to have more efficient water distribution systems. “Use must be improved. Reduce consumption per person, per industry, recycle and reuse gray water and rainwater better,” he says. It is a point that climatologist Quesada also insists on: “El Niño is getting stronger. Climate change too. Are we ready for a future that is coming? Reality shows us that it is not.”
This Wednesday, at four in the afternoon, the clouds began to do the job that everyone in Bogotá is asking of them: a downpour fell on the Chuza reservoir, the largest of the two that make up the Chingaza system. It is just one of dozens that the city needs.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS newsletter about Colombia and here to the channel on WhatsAppand receive all the information keys on current events in the country.
