MEXICO CITY (AP) — Flying above her neighborhood in a cable car on a recent morning, Sonia Estefanía Palacios Díaz scanned a sea of blue and black water tanks, pipes and cables for rain-catching systems.
“There is a!” she said, pointing to a black tank connected to a smaller blue unit with connecting pipes that snake up to the roof, where the water collects.
“I’m always looking for different rainwater harvesting systems,” she said, smiling. “I’m also always looking for places to install one.”
Conducted by prolonged drought and inconsistent public water supply, many Mexico City residents are turning to rainwater. Pioneering company Isla Urbana, which does both for-profit and non-profit work, has installed more than 40,000 rain harvesting systems across Mexico since the company was founded 15 years ago. And the Mexico City government has invested in installing 70,000 systems since 2019, which is still a drop in the bucket for the sprawling metropolis of around 9 million people.
But there is little education and limited resources to maintain systems after installation, causing systems to fall into disrepair or residents to sell the parts.
Enter Palacios Díaz and a group of other women who make up the Pixcatl cooperative, which means water collection in the indigenous Nahuatl language.
In low-income areas like Iztapalapa — Mexico City’s most populous neighborhood — the group tries to keep systems running while educating residents on how to maintain them. This includes brainstorming your own projects and providing residents with low-cost options for additional materials.
Palacios Díaz has lived with water scarcity in Iztapalapa for as long as he can remember. “Here, people queue from 3 a.m. to get water (from distribution trucks) until 2 p.m.,” she said from her mother’s house. “There was a time when we went more than a month without a regular water supply.”
At the beginning of this year, the reservoirs supplying the capital were dangerously low. Authorities reduced the amount of water released and neighborhoods unaccustomed to water scarcity faced a new reality.
Entering the rainy season, most of Mexico experienced a moderate to severe drought. Mexico’s reservoirs are starting to get closer half of its capacitybut they haven’t filled much, according to recent reports from the National Water Commission.
The country depends on the rains – which normally stop in October – to fill the reservoirs, but the drought has reduced them so much that this could take years.
This has encouraged many Mexicans, like Palacios Díaz, to turn to rainwater collection.
At the height of the pandemic, she taught classes on urban agriculture and water harvesting at a local community space. It wasn’t until her students said they wanted to learn how to install and understand their own systems that she seriously considered taking a government course. After signing up for a training program in 2022 to become an installer, she met other young women in the city interested in water collection systems and formed the cooperative.
Near the edge of a volcano on the banks of Iztapalapa, Lizbeth Esther Pineda Castro, another member of the cooperative, and Palacios Díaz adjusted a ladder to reach the roof of a small house. The two-story house inherited by Sara Huitzil Morales and her niece is in the Buenavista neighborhood of Iztapalapa.
Huitzil’s mother qualified for a free water collection system from the Mexico City government in 2021. After installation, Huitzil requested maintenance from Pixcatl as she was unsure how to care for the system.
Sporting their navy blue polos with the Pixcatl logo, Pineda and Palacios Díaz cleared debris from the roof so the system collected only fresh rain.
“We also added some soap and chlorine to clean the pipes,” Palacios Díaz said as he swept the liquid through a connecting pipe leading to the harvesting system.
Downstairs, they joined other cooperative members in a courtyard to look at the gigantic 2,500-liter water tank, enough to meet Huitzil’s needs for several months when full. The colossal container was almost as tall as Palacios Díaz. Another member cleaned leaves and dirt from a filter.
Lastly, Palacios Díaz added some chlorine pills to clean and disinfect the water. The frequency of the entire maintenance process depends on several factors, including the amount of water in the tank, the amount used and whether it has rained.
Huitzil said that before the harvesting system she faced water shortages and rationing. The water available to the public was always dirty and “dark as chocolate”. She used to use the water left over from washing clothes to clean the patio. the bottom, using the cleanest one to take a shower.
The system has transformed her daily water use and she doesn’t have to think twice about whether it’s safe. The system initially uses six filters, plus three more if the water is drinkable.
“The water is good, it’s so good!” said Huitzil. “My clothes come out very clean and the water is fresh.
With more than 1.8 million inhabitants, Iztapalapa has been one of the main beneficiaries of Mexico City’s harvesting system program. But after two years, the city stopped offering free systems when many residents, facing economic hardship and sometimes struggling to maintain the systems, sold their parts.
“It should be easy to maintain, but it is tedious,” said Palacios Diaz. “Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a scenario where we not only have environmental problems, but also economic problems.”
Loreta Castro Reguera, professor of architecture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, focuses much of her work on water and urban design. She said rainwater harvesting is a great solution because during Mexico’s rainy season residents can use rainwater instead of water from the Cutzamala system – a reservoir that supplies water to Mexico City and the State of Mexico. Mexico.
Palacios Díaz dreams of rainwater systems in markets, shopping malls and other community spaces. The cooperative also works on projects customized to the needs of its customers – whether for a low-cost system or to meet a greater demand for water.
As women, she and the other Pixcatl members want to set an example for those who want to get involved in water harvesting.
“I think it’s really beautiful that we can inspire girls and show women in another context,” said another member, Abigail López Durán, “that we can also use tools and are not afraid of getting hurt.”
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