ANDThe mayor of Bogotá Carlos Fernando Galán announced the new measures that will be implemented in Bogotá regarding water cuts. The first thing he announced is the improvement of the filling levels of the Chingaza system that supplies water to a large part of the capital.
According to the criteria of
The restriction from now on will be implemented as it has been but every other day until the nine zones comply with the restriction every 18 days.which means the cuts will be more widely spaced.
It is a positive balance, because thanks to these measures we have been able to face the crises and advance in the situation, but also prepare for the challenges of 2025.
According to the president, since the restrictions began, the Chingaza system has accumulated 14.28 million cubic meters of water thanks to rationing measures.
Galán presented a detailed report on the results of the measures implemented due to the climate phenomena that generated the water shortage emergency since April 11, 2024. “It is a positive balance, because thanks to these measures we have been able to face the crises and move forward.” in the current situation, but also prepare for the challenges of 2025.”
The water consumption on June 25, 2025 was 15.81 cubic meters per second and the level of the Chingaza System on June 26 is 42.29 percent and this means that it has a volume of 122,630,000 meters. cubic of water. “Remember that when we started these measures, this system had only a level of 16 percent and, in addition to this, the following week, when the measures began, it reached 14.9 percent.”
Chingaza System at this time.
Photo:Bogota City Hall
The president explained that today the trend is positive thanks to citizen behavior for two and a half months. He added that until today and thanks to the measures, it has been possible to save 14,280,000 additional cubic meters of water and that this is thanks to the measures adopted. “It is evident that the level that Chingaza has today is due to combined strategies. On the one hand, the increase in influxes that began in the month of April and, on the other hand, the restriction measures. That helped us reach 42.29 percent. Today the System has 73.76 million additional cubic meters at the time we started, of which 19.4 percent is due to measures and the rest due to inflows.”
Remember that when we started these measures, this system had only a level of 16 percent and, in addition to this, the following week, when the measures began, it reached 14.9 percent
The water supply system has three components, the Northern System that has brought 25 percent of water to Bogotá, the Southern System that has historically brought 5 percent and the Chingaza System that has brought 70 percent. “The System that had a crisis was Chingaza, so among the measures it was necessary to stop its speed of decline. That is, bring less water from there. And we set the goal of saving 20 percent of the liquid we brought and we met that goal. We have been able to reduce by 22.03 percent what we will need from there, a 110 percent fulfillment of this goal.”
A second goal that the Administration set was to reduce the average general consumption of the city to benefit all systems by 11 percent and that has been achieved by 10.23 percent., which means that 93 percent of what was planned has been achieved. “Another goal was to reduce the average water consumption in Bogotá by 2 cubic meters per second and we have achieved 1.81 cubic meters per second, which means 90 percent compliance with the measure.”
Another goal was to reduce the average water consumption in Bogotá by 2 cubic meters per second and we have achieved 1.81 cubic meters per second, which means 90 percent compliance with the measure.
The mayor said that the evolution of Chingaza from January of this year to date shows that if we continue with the improvement curve, the drought seasons at the end of this year and the beginning of 2025 will be better faced without problems. “We started the year below the guide curve, in April we were below it because it was not raining and now we have managed to be slightly above it. We have to stay very close to this curve to face the near future.”
The measures that remain
The manager of the Bogotá Water and Sewer Company, Natasha Avendaño, made a technical tour of the Chuza reservoir.
Photo:Mauricio Moreno. TIME
The new phase means that the restriction will no longer be a zone each day for nine days in a row so that a complete cycle is done, but rather there will be one day with a zone and the next day no zone in Bogotá will have a restriction. On the next day the second zone will go into restriction and on the fourth day no zone, and so on until all nine zones go through a restriction, That is, it goes from a cycle that lasted nine days to a cycle that will last 18 days.
Of those 18 days there will be 9 days in which there will be some area with restrictions and nine days in which no area of the capital will have it. “The objective here is to maintain a consumption restriction compared to the historical consumption of Bogotá in order to be able to maintain a trend that allows us to be sure that the level of the reservoirs reaches the close to 70 percent that we need at the end of October. to face the end of this year and 2025 without water supply problems.”
Galán added that these measures must lead citizens to have an average consumption that is on average 16.6 cubic meters per second. “There will be superior days, there will be inferior days. “We must maintain the trend of the guide curve and resolve the risks.”
