The situation of water availability in the municipality of La Paz has become critical, so it is soon declared as the first municipality without water in America, along with Los Cabos where the vital liquid has been scarce with a tendency of depletion that has put the authorities on alert.
At present in La Paz there is a deficit of less than 17.8 million cubic meters available in the aquifers of Los Planes, El Coyote, La Paz, Alfredo V. Bonfil and El Carrizal. Much of that rationed water is used for agricultural activities and most of it is reserved for the city’s consumption.
In Los Cabos, the Santa Anita aquifer is in the red, supplying San José del Cabo and the hotel zone of the tourist corridor, in addition to 60 percent of the port of Cabo San Lucas. The result is that at present there is no available water and by 2020 a new desalination plant for Cabo San Lucas is expected to come into operation.
In the case of La Paz, there is also an over exploitation of the aquifers a severe scarcity crisis looming, according to estimates.
There is an overload of the aquifers and the current availability of the vital liquid is in a deficit never seen before.
The Baja Californians are the Mexicans with the lowest availability of fresh water per inhabitant, 785 cubic meters per year, when the national average is 4,200, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information Technology (INEGI).
This shortage is a consequence of its climatic and hydrological conditions, but also to the increase of the population, lack of infrastructure and faults in the distribution networks.
IN 2011 GREENPEACE WARNED
The organizations warned that 35 percent of the entity’s aquifers, that is, 14 of 39, are already overexploited. Aquifers such as La Paz, Los Planes, Vizcaino, San Ignacio, San José del Cabo and San Lucas present a deficit year after year, according to the study “Availability of Groundwater in BCS” of the National Water Commission, of the year 2010
Conagua Study http://www.conagua.gob.mx/conagua07/publicaciones/publicaciones/1-sgp-17-12pbc.pdf
Source: California Hoy
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