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Taps have run dry in a major Mexico city for months. A similar water crisis looms in the US too, experts say.

Taps have run dry in a major Mexico city for months. A similar water crisis looms in the US too, experts say.

Aug 14, 2022 2 mins, 14 secs

This is the scene in the industrial hub of Monterrey, Mexico — the nation's third largest city and one of its wealthiest. Officials there announced in early June they would restrict access to running water in and around the 5-million-person city, allowing only six hours of water access a day.

In the U.S., many Native American tribes along the Colorado River Basin lack access to reliable water sources and clean drinking water, free of contaminants like uranium and arsenic. Some community members regularly travel long distances to haul water for everyday use. .

The town of Rawlins, Wyoming, saw taps run dry in March as the result of outdated infrastructure. In Utah, two towns last year halted construction because of a declining water supply.

The drying lakes show the crisis is real, but most Americans remain comfortably insulated from concerns about drinking water — for now at least.

“There is a fundamental supply and demand imbalance where there is more demand from the river than the river can reliably supply in a given year,” explained Jack Berggren, a water policy analyst at Western Resources. .

“We’re definitely pushing really hard on our water supply reliability in California and in the Colorado River Basin right now.”.

agriculture is currently sapping up the vast majority of Colorado River water in drought-stricken states. .

Today, 22 of the 30 federally recognized tribes within the Colorado River Basin have rights to about a fourth of the river’s water supply.

But having rights on paper isn’t all that is needed to access the water

“Existing water infrastructure is deteriorating or inadequate, ..

(and) investment in water infrastructure has not kept up with population growth and other needs,” according to a Water and Tribes Initiative 2021 report

As droughts linked to the climate crisis further strain water resources in the West, more communities are likely to have their day-to-day life impacted by water shortages

The goal: Bring water usage and water supply back in line, so that we are not tapping into reserves that will one day dry up

Bureau of Reclamation, the government agency that owns and operates major dams and reservoirs in the country, announced in June the seven Western states that rely on the Colorado River Basin for water supplies had 60 days to agree on a plan to use drastically less water. 

PREVIOUSLY: 'The moment of reckoning is near': Feds warn huge cuts needed to shore up Lake Mead, Colorado River

Nonprofits like Dig Deep and National Tribal Water Center lead efforts to help bring clean, running water to tribal communities across the country. 

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