1 00:00:02,033 --> 00:00:04,533 AMNA NAWAZ: We turn now to the water crisis gripping North America's biggest city. 2 00:00:04,533 --> 00:00:08,333 The Mexico City area is home to some 22 million people, 3 00:00:08,333 --> 00:00:12,000 and solutions to keep water accessible have been elusive. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,400 As special correspondent Julia Galiano-Rios reports, 5 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:20,200 there are a number of factors complicating the situation. 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,200 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: This has become a daily routine for 53-year-old Teresa Vazquez. To 7 00:00:27,233 --> 00:00:30,700 clean the dishes or wash clothes for her family of 10, she ladles murky water from a barrel. 8 00:00:32,500 --> 00:00:37,500 It's been 10 years since a single drop came from her taps. 9 00:00:39,633 --> 00:00:41,933 TERESA VAZQUEZ, Iztapalapa Resident (through translator): It's very hard living without 10 00:00:41,933 --> 00:00:45,200 running water. We have to wash our clothes with very little water, do dishes with very little, 11 00:00:47,033 --> 00:00:50,300 shower with very little. It's very hard to live without the water we need. 12 00:00:52,133 --> 00:00:54,700 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: Vazquez lives in the largely impoverished Mexico City 13 00:00:54,700 --> 00:00:59,666 neighborhood of Iztapalapa. Every day, she has to buy bottled water for drinking 14 00:01:01,233 --> 00:01:05,133 and bathing her grandkids. This water, she says, is too dirty. 15 00:01:07,300 --> 00:01:10,233 TERESA VAZQUEZ (through translator): The water is not clean, but we need it, so we 16 00:01:10,233 --> 00:01:14,600 have to take it how it comes. There's no point in complaining. In fact, when we do complain, 17 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:19,600 they sometimes don't even bring it. So, yes, it's dirty, but at least we have water. 18 00:01:20,933 --> 00:01:22,833 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: Once a week, 19 00:01:22,833 --> 00:01:26,633 a city truck delivers water piped into an 800-gallon tank outside her home. 20 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,800 This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of residents in a 21 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:36,200 sprawling metropolis running out of water. Residents in this community, 22 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:41,200 one of many like it in the city, tell us they rely on these trucks for their water consumption. 23 00:01:43,100 --> 00:01:45,566 Now, as the situation worsens and the system becomes more and more strained, 24 00:01:45,566 --> 00:01:50,466 tensions rise in these communities, as neighbors vie for what little water there is available. 25 00:01:52,300 --> 00:01:56,700 That means every trip for drivers like Cristian Ovando comes with risks, 26 00:01:56,700 --> 00:01:59,866 from navigating narrow, bumpy alleyways to violence. 27 00:01:59,866 --> 00:02:01,900 CRISTIAN OVANDO, Water Truck Driver (through translator): 28 00:02:01,900 --> 00:02:05,866 We get sent to an address to deliver the water, but, sometimes, on the way, 29 00:02:05,866 --> 00:02:10,866 desperate residents jump on the truck and divert it to another location, and basically demand we 30 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,133 give them water instead. If we refuse, they can verbally and sometimes physically attack us. 31 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:23,600 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: Mexico City has faced water shortages for years, but never like this. 32 00:02:25,733 --> 00:02:28,733 Most, if not all of its key reservoirs, are less than a third full. Some media reports, based on 33 00:02:31,666 --> 00:02:36,666 statements from the country's water commission, warn, Mexico City was nearing a day zero, when it 34 00:02:38,900 --> 00:02:42,433 can't provide any water to its people. Experts say that's unlikely, but the situation remains dire. 35 00:02:46,100 --> 00:02:49,333 The crisis has been exacerbated by climate change, 36 00:02:49,333 --> 00:02:54,300 hotter, drier conditions and lower-than-normal rainfall. But there's a more immediate problem. 37 00:02:56,366 --> 00:03:00,166 TAMARA LUENGO, Founder, Aqueducto: This water crisis is not a crisis of water 38 00:03:00,166 --> 00:03:05,066 resources, but, rather, a crisis of management of resources. 39 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:08,200 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: Tamara Luengo, a self-proclaimed water nerd, runs 40 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,866 an environmental consulting firm in Mexico City. 41 00:03:11,866 --> 00:03:15,433 Luengo says the mismanagement started centuries ago, when 42 00:03:15,433 --> 00:03:20,433 Spanish conquistadors drained the region of water to build a city on lake beds. 43 00:03:22,700 --> 00:03:25,600 TAMARA LUENGO: This city continues to be rich in water, of course. The mismanagement of the water 44 00:03:27,633 --> 00:03:30,700 in this city has caused that this wonderful water city is not visible at the moment. 45 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:42,000 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: Today, Mexico City draws about 30 percent of its water from the Cutzamala System, 46 00:03:43,666 --> 00:03:47,100 a collection of reservoirs, pipes and plants over 75 miles away. 47 00:03:49,033 --> 00:03:52,433 The rest comes mostly from underground aquifers, tapped by hundreds of wells. 48 00:03:54,733 --> 00:03:59,233 But the network that brings water to residents is in bad shape. About 40 percent of the city's 49 00:04:01,266 --> 00:04:04,800 water is lost in leaks. Even though Mexico City gets about 30 inches of rain a year 50 00:04:06,700 --> 00:04:10,966 and frequent flooding, its ability to hold on to that water is practically 51 00:04:10,966 --> 00:04:15,966 nonexistent. The city also rarely uses practices like wastewater treatment. 52 00:04:17,433 --> 00:04:21,500 TAMARA LUENGO: Fixing a network so old as the network of Mexico 53 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:26,500 City requires a series of resources, such as will, 54 00:04:28,300 --> 00:04:32,266 for starters, to fix all the network and to avoid this 40 percent being lost. 55 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,433 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: Newly elected president Claudia Sheinbaum, 56 00:04:36,433 --> 00:04:41,433 the former mayor of Mexico City, defended her record on this issue on the campaign trail. 57 00:04:44,366 --> 00:04:46,366 CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, Mexican President-Elect (through translator): As mayor, we did carry 58 00:04:46,366 --> 00:04:50,666 out works and we do have projects which we will carry out in the greater Mexican City 59 00:04:50,666 --> 00:04:55,666 area when we reach the presidency, so that we can have water supply in the long term. 60 00:04:56,866 --> 00:04:59,633 So, yes, we did things, and we do have projects. 61 00:04:59,633 --> 00:05:04,633 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: Luengo says part of the reason the crisis has 62 00:05:06,166 --> 00:05:09,300 received so much attention is because of who it's affecting. 63 00:05:09,300 --> 00:05:14,300 TAMARA LUENGO: Throughout the years, the vulnerable communities of the city in the 64 00:05:16,633 --> 00:05:20,000 poorer areas of the city, within marginalized communities were the ones facing the water crisis. 65 00:05:22,666 --> 00:05:25,066 But, strangely, within this water crisis, 66 00:05:25,066 --> 00:05:30,066 we have been seeing that some of the richer areas of the city are facing this day-by-day, 67 00:05:32,133 --> 00:05:35,866 continuous evidence of the water crisis. And this definitely has brought a lot of attention. 68 00:05:38,933 --> 00:05:43,933 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: In Iztapalapa, Teresa Vazquez and her family feel the inequality firsthand. 69 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,433 Vazquez's daughter Brenda hopes politicians just fulfill their promises this time around. 70 00:05:53,166 --> 00:05:54,966 BRENDA ESCALANTE, Iztapalapa Resident (through translator): All that money 71 00:05:54,966 --> 00:05:57,633 that politicians spend on putting up banners, TV ads and all that, 72 00:05:57,633 --> 00:06:02,000 the fair thing would be for them to spend it on these neighborhoods, so that we can have water, 73 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,200 so that we can be a bit more comfortable and experience what other neighborhoods do, which 74 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:11,200 is opening their tap and getting their water and being able to wash their dishes or take a shower. 75 00:06:13,266 --> 00:06:17,200 JULIA GALIANO-RIOS: A basic need that more and more residents can no longer take for granted. 76 00:06:18,766 --> 00:06:21,933 For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Julia Galiano-Rios in Mexico City.