Angelica Enciso L.
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, February 8, 2023, p. 13
A drought ranging from abnormal to extreme grows in the country and hits almost 82 percent of the national territory, including the Cutzamala System basin, between the states of Mexico and Michoacán, which supplies a third of the water consumed by the Valley of Mexico , reported the National Water Commission (Conagua).
The agency indicated that the average storage of the Cutzamala dams is 53.3 percent, and 23.4 percent less than the historical average and with a reduction of 1.2 percent in one week.
The Villa Victoria dam is at 44 percent, while the average is 71 percent; El Bosque is located at 58.4, that is, 4.2 percent below the average, and Valle de Bravo is at 55.2 percent, 31.4 percent below the average.
The Conagua reported that as of January 31, the areas with drought in the Cutzamala basin increased, since the moderate one reached 52.1 percent and the severe one went to 30.5 percent of the territory, when two weeks before it was at 8.8 percent.
rainfall deficit
He added that January ends without rain in the Valley of Mexico and in the country there is a deficit of 30.6 percent in rainfall.
The drought monitor indicated that as of January 31, the main areas with drought in the national territory are located in the north, the northeast, the west, and the center.
He added that in the center of the country, from January 15 to 31, abnormally dry areas and moderately dry areas grew in the states of Mexico, Morelos, Tlaxcala and Puebla.
He also argued that the severe drought increased in localized areas of Durango, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Tamaulipas, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero and Oaxaca. In Michoacán and southern Hidalgo, areas with extreme drought emerged and it increased slightly in Tamaulipas.
As of January 31, the area with moderate to extreme drought was 44.27 percent at the national level, a figure 8.94 percent higher than that registered on January 15 of the same year and there is 37.63 percent that has abnormally dry conditions, of according to the report.
During the weekly session of the Technical Committee for the Operation of Hydraulic Works of Conagua, it was reported that the rains from January to February 5 have a deficit of 30.6 percent, in relation to the historical average for the period.
The Conagua pointed out that the level of the 210 main reservoirs in Mexico (which together have the capacity to store 92 percent of the liquid in the country’s reservoirs), until February 6, were located at 63 percent of their storage in average.
