inefficient, not to say absurd

March 25, 2025 6:15 AM

The Last Drops of Mexico City One of the world’s largest and most populated cities may run out of drinking water in the near future. As Mexico’s capital struggles to quench its thirst, scenes from the parched megalopolis show how water scarcity could one day impact cities around the globe.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs (9 comments total)

Fascinating and sad. We were in Mexico City visiting relatives last May. Everything was dry and desiccated. You didn't need to be a plant expert to even see the trees drooping. Brown grass, dry soil, the various plants the city installs for beautification were struggling or just dead. Plus, it was easily 90F a couple days... our relatives said that's extremely rare in the spring. Mexico city may be south of the USA and in the tropics, but it's way high in the mountains so it normally doesn't get such hot temperatures so early in the year.
posted by SoberHighland at 8:38 AM on March 25 [1 favorite]

That is some very small type. I congratulate the makers of longlead dot com on their superb visual acuity.
posted by neuron at 9:28 AM on March 25 [1 favorite]

Looks like it scales to match the display size... On my 27inch display it is 23px high.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 9:31 AM on March 25 [1 favorite]

US rejects Mexico’s request for water as Trump opens new battle front

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said on Thursday before the state department announcement that the water issue was “being dealt with” through the two countries’ boundary and water commission.

“There’s been less water. That’s part of the problem,” she told reporters.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:39 AM on March 25

Ironically, I was just looking at A Portrait of Tenochtitlan and marveling at the amount of (salt) water in the city.
posted by Dotty at 12:16 PM on March 25 [3 favorites]

US rejects Mexico’s request for water as Trump opens new battle front

While I'm sure US water policy will put them the two countries in conflict, Mexico City in particular appears to be in a 100% domestic watershed. The article appears to cite global warming and overpopulation as the main causes of water shortages.
posted by pwnguin at 1:33 PM on March 25 [2 favorites]

My vision is garbage fire, and I was able to read through to the end.

One of the things it doesn’t address too much is the water consumption of agriculture and manufacturing. You can drain all the swimming pools you want, if you don’t address those two, there will still be shortages. Of course, less water for agriculture = less food and less water for manufacturing = fewer jobs, but everyone dying of thirst isn’t workable, either.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:27 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]

Ironically, I was just looking at A Portrait of Tenochtitlan and marveling at the amount of (salt) water in the city.

For most of its history, the Mexico City valley has been prone to flooding. I've sometimes thought of doing a post here about Mexico City and its fascinating history with water, some fabulous non-fiction and fiction it has spawned and the 19th century Desague engineering project.
posted by vacapinta at 1:37 AM on March 26

oh please do vacapinta! The whole drainage project took from the 1670s to 2019, as I understand it, I would like to understand it better.
posted by clew at 7:36 AM on March 26 [1 favorite]