2024-04-16 08:18:55
Susana Muhamad explained the main reasons for the imminent lack of rain in Colombia, and the risk in Cundinamarca, as one of the most affected areas.
DIARIO DEL HUILA, CURRENT EVENTS
In the midst of the lack of rain at the national level and the recovery of reservoirs, the Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad González, reflected on the drinking water crisis that Bogotá and, in general, the Andean area of the country is facing.
In dialogues for the newspaper El Tiempo, the head of the portfolio explained in the first instance that the El Niño phenomenon is an oscillation in the temperature of the Pacific Ocean, in which additional heat than normal is concentrated every seven years and for this reason it is Rainfall is reduced in Colombia.
Thus, Minister Muhamad revealed that the main reason for the absence of drinking water is because “towards the month of January, the Pacific Ocean had raised its temperature almost 1.5 degrees above normal. At this moment the opposite begins to happen, the ocean begins to cool, but its temperature is still above average and, therefore, until its normal temperature returns, we continue to be affected by the El Niño phenomenon.”
Regarding rationing in Bogotá, the drinking water system is made up of the Tominé and Neusa reservoirs, which are part of the Northern System; Chuza and San Rafael, which make up the Chingaza System; and Tunjos, Chisacá, as well as La Regadera, which make up the Southern System.
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In this way, the Minister of Environment highlighted for the newspaper El Tiempo “the Chuza reservoir in Chingaza, which is at 16 percent at this time. The other reservoirs in the Bogotá River basin are at 40, 50 percent, some with an upward trend. They have already begun to recover, but others are still on a downward trend. “That’s mainly why we’re on this rationing.”
The portfolio manager also reported that the measures taken would be in force in April and May because Colombia is a geographically complex country. For example, in the Amazon and Orinoquía they do not present themselves in the same way because the departments are under a different hydrological regime: “What is going to happen with the La Niña phenomenon is that it is very strong in the Caribbean and in the Andes. On the other side of the mountain range, in the Orinoquía and the Amazon, it is dry season,” she told the aforementioned media.
Finally, Susana Muhamad alerted citizens because “we are at the first bell” because the crisis brings great opportunities to accelerate change and awareness “in the face of climate change, taking care of ecosystems, stopping deterioration factors, recovering water, means that there will be a water crisis, which is our main asset,” he concluded for El Tiempo.
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