BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – The mayor of Colombia’s capital Bogotá announced new measures Monday to reduce water consumption in the city of 8 million people. Due to the El Niño-induced drought, authorities are already rationing water in most areas and asking residents to change their showering habits.
In a statement broadcast by local media, Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said households that use more than 22 cubic meters of water per month will have to pay an additional fee. He also threatened to impose fines of up to $300 on people who wash cars on the street or engage in other activities deemed to be a waste of water.
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The mayor said city buses, which are normally washed daily, will now be washed only once a week. For public health reasons, bus interiors must continue to be cleaned daily.
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“We have started to reduce our water consumption, but we still have a long way to go to reach our goals,” Galan said.
Water rationing is rare in Bogota, a city nestled in the wetlands of the northern Andes mountains, surrounded by cloud forests and emerald green fields.
But months of dry weather caused by El Niño destabilized the city’s reservoirs, sparking forest fires in January.
Bogota’s main water source, the Chingaza reservoir system, is currently 15% full, the lowest level ever. Experts have warned that reservoirs could run dry within two months if rain does not return to the region.
Faced with this situation, Bogotá’s city authorities last week introduced a water rationing system that divides the city into nine zones. Each zone will be without water for 24 hours on a rotating basis.
Galan said on Monday that since the rationing system began on Thursday, the city’s water consumption has decreased from 17.84 cubic meters per second to 16.01 cubic meters per second. But the mayor said the city’s water consumption needs to be reduced to 15 cubic meters per second in order to restore the reservoir.
City officials have been urging residents in recent days to reduce their water use by limiting showers to five minutes and turning off faucets while brushing their teeth.
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The mayor also suggested that residents of the capital should stop taking daily showers, which is a Colombian habit, especially if there is no need to leave the house.
“We will not only reduce consumption through rationing, but also by changing behavior,” Galan said.
