In The Drink

‘IF water levels in reservoirs are falling, why doesn’t the Government build more reservoirs?

We are no experts in plumbing, but digging a hole to catch rainwater can’t be all that tricky? Road workers and the ground staff at Chelsea FC do it all the time.

But while we wait we get those hackneyed shots of half-full reservoirs (in our doomed world they are always half full and never half empty), we read in the Times that things can get worse. We could start sinking.

The Times reports that getting water to Mexico City’s 22 million residents comes at a cost. Pumping water from subterranean aquifers is causing the city to sink.

In the past 100 years, the city has dropped by nearly 30 feet. In some areas, the city is sinking into the mud at a rate of 15 inches a year.

And since not every homeowner wants to live in the basement, something needs to be done to save the place.

The paper says the city’s colonial-era cathedral is being held together by metal joists, as some parts have sunk by as much as 8ft.

Technology has been devised to keep tilting buildings upright. Ilan Adler, director of Mexico’s International Renewable Resources Institute, says that water must be valued. ”Water, if not properly managed, will start to become as bad an issue as oil,” says he.

Which means the first thing to do is to plug the leaks that mean 40 per cent of the city’s water is lost. Construct new reservoirs and ingenious ways of delivering water to the masses. Find ways to curtail the city’s growing population – 1,000 migrants move in each day.

Or just throw your hands in the air and blame it all on global warming…’

Posted: 17th, March 2006 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink