As 2024 wound down, residents of Colombia’s capital city of Bogotá could have been forgiven for hoping 2025 would bring an end to water rationing. Two months into the New Year, though, the restrictions that began last April show no signs of letting up. Every day, authorities cut off a section of the city from water access. Residents wash dishes and shower using water they had stored in buckets the day before, while restaurants and cafés keep their businesses going by cooking meals with bottled water. The water-rationing scheme was first implemented in April 2024 by Bogotá Mayor Carlos Galán, as reservoirs that serve the city dried up due to a severe drought. The El Niño weather pattern, which typically leads to less precipitation and higher temperatures in Colombia, caused water supplies in the two-reservoir Chingaza system, Bogotá’s primary source of water, to plummet to 16% of capacity... [Log in to read more]