Supermarkets restrict the sale of bottled water in Monterrey
Bottled water rage grows
The corridor of the waters of a HEB It has some holes in the shelves and several signs posted warning customers that “the sale of water is limited to three packages or jugs per person.”
“Last week we had nothing, not a liter of water from a single brand. Suppliers are supplying very little. Right now it is very complicated, that is why the supply is being limited,” says one of the corridor managers at the San Pedro Garza García branch, one of the 13 municipalities that make up the Monterrey Metropolitan Area, where 87.4% of the population lives. population of the entity.
The self-service chain explained to Expansion in an email that the decision to limit the purchase was made “with the aim of providing the service and having product for all our customers”, since the drought “has led our families to change customs and daily activities”.
Supermarkets limit water scarcity in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area.
Supermarkets limit water scarcity in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area.
Supermarkets limit water scarcity in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area.
Supermarkets limit water scarcity in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area.
Supermarkets limit water scarcity in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area.
This branch isn’t the only one dealing with panic buying of bottled water. At a City Market a few meters away, two Santa María water vendors haul pallets of bottled water. “This is the fifth stage that we bring so far this week. Last week people took carts filled with jugs or jugs of water. And also Gerber water for babies,” says one of those in charge of replenishing the shelves. “It’s not normal.”
The problem is not new. Six years ago, the Monterrey Metropolitan Water Fund (FAMM) recommended the then newcomer Jaime Rodríguez Calderón to pay special attention to the use of water in all sectors, especially in agriculture; which consumes 70% of the liquid demanded by the entity, followed by residential use, which accounts for 25%. But little was done to improve the entity’s water system.
Now, unless there are four-day torrential rains – as happened in 2013 when Hurricane Ingrid filled the dams after nearly two years of drought – water supply restrictions will last two to three months at best. scenarios, and up to six in the most catastrophic. That includes all summer, when the thermometer exceeds 40 degrees.
As the water evaporates, the sky bombards
Samuel García, the entity’s governor, said this week that the clouds are bombarded every day with silver iodide, a compound used to make rain, while recovering the water stolen from the dams by some ranches. “I want to give you good news with the water that was recovered (…) we are going to add a cubic meter,” announced the governor of Nuevo León.
While the inhabitants reach for pipes and bottled water to solve some daily tasks, such as preparing food or cleaning teeth and hands, self-service stores, such as HE, are working on “finding different alternatives to offer the product” and meet “overdemand”.
We continue working to bring more water to Nuevo León, and as we had told you: we are going to bombard clouds every day to take advantage of the fact that it is cloudy and stimulate rain. 👊🏻🌨
Hopefully very soon the water will come to the citrus region. Listen and share this message: 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/sZEs3Yj1Bb
– Samuel Garcia (@samuel_garcias)
June 13, 2022
Miguel Sánchez, who works as a corporate driver, drives to the banks of the Santa Catarina River that runs through the Monterrey Metropolitan Area. The channel is almost non-existent, the little water that there was at the beginning of the year has been evaporating due to the extreme heat. The same has happened with the dams that feed the Monterrey Water and Drainage Services system, which in addition to being victims of the ‘huachicoleo’ of water, do not have the necessary infrastructure to prevent the evaporation of the liquid.
The Monterrey Metropolitan Water Fund estimates that around 75% of the water from the El Cuchillo dam, for example, can be lost through evaporation.
“You have to put up with the rod,” the governor told the 5.3 million inhabitants of the entity. Meanwhile, the alarm clocks will continue to sound at 4 in the morning to get out of bed and go to open the faucet.