Some Mexico City residents see future in rain harvesting
MEXICO CITY — Edgar Serralde Galicia lives in a part of Mexico City known for water: Xochimilco, where picturesque canals have irrigated produce grown on man-made islands and served as transportation routes since the days of the Aztecs.
But like roughly a million residents of the capital, Serralde isn’t connected to the city’s water system. While most rely on the water trucks that rumble through the city’s less-affluent neighbourhoods, he tried his hand at collecting rainwater and storing it in rusty barrels. When it did not rain, his family had to go to his parents’ house to wash.
“When there’s no water, I feel useless because I feel that I can’t move my family forward,” said Serralde, a lettuce farmer who lives with his wife and their two children. “The truth is we suffered a lot because we are a humble family.”
All that changed when he installed a more-advanced rainwater harvesting system that can store six times more water than his barrels. He says such rain-harvesting systems could be a life-changing solution in a rain-heavy megalopolis that is plagued by water shortages.