Photo: lolamagazin.com

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF    

More than 50 percent of Mexico City and parts of the State of Mexico (Edomex) will suffer water shortages and cutoffs for at least five days, the National Water Commission (Conagua) announced on Monday, Oct. 10.

Conagua will suspend service from Wednesday, Oct. 31, through Sunday, Nov. 4, in order to conduct maintenance operations at its Cutzamala treatment plant, which supplies drinking water to most of the Mexican capital and surrounding areas.

The Water Commission initiated partial service interruptions in the neighborhoods of Iztapalapa, Tláhuac and Ciudad Netzahualcóyotl in September.

There will also be partial water cutoffs throughout the capital city starting Tuesday, Oct. 9, through Sunday, Oct. 14, so that workers can replace 200 meters of concrete pipelines from 25 natural wells in Tláhuac to the La Caldera distribution center with lighter and more resilient polyethylene pipes.

The Mexico City areas that will be affected by the five-day service suspension are the precincts of Álvaro Obregón, Azcapotzalco, Benito Juárez, Coyoacán, Cuajimalpa, Cuauhtémoc, Iztacalco, Iztapalapa, Magdalena Contreras, Miguel Hidalgo, Tláhuac, Tlálpan and Venustiano Carranza.

The water shutoff will be 100 percent in Miguel Hidalgo, Cuauhtémoc, Cuajimalpa and Álvaro Obregón.

In the State of Mexico, the municipalities that will be affected are Toluca, Metepec, Huixquilucan, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Ecatepec, Naucalpan, Tlalnepantla, Tultitlán, Coacalco, Netzahualcóyotl, Chimalhuacán and parts of La Paz.

Conagua officials warned that while service will begin to be restored on Nov. 4, consumers can expect partial shortages to continue through Thursday, Nov. 8.

Conagua said that the end-of-month maintenance process will affect about 4.5 million residents of Mexico City and 3.6 million in people Edomex.