The water situation in Mexico City is going from bad to worse. With a  rising population and dropping water levels in local lakes, government officials and residents alike are watching water sources like Lake Avandaro drop to lows like they have never seen before.

"I was born here and I have never seen it at that level," said Carlos Gonzalez of the Los Pericos floating restaurant.

Lake Avandro is one of the places authorities in Mexico City turned last year for water during the drought and in that case it brought such shock and resistance from wealthy vacationers there that there had to be a deal worked out with government officials to keep the lake at 75% of capacity.

Even tapping back-up sources, the water supply is still not going well.

"It comes out like tamarind juice and then yellow, yellow, yellow. At times it comes out worse - putrid like dead flowers thrown away," said one resident. For many, the water that comes out of the tap is undrinkable and worthy only of the houseplants. Many poor families are dealing with having to buy water that gets shipped in by a service. According to Reuters, many families know whether the water will be good to drink or not based on how the color looks when it comes out.

Government moves to cut big water subsidies will help but other changes are needed to facilitate long-term changes. exico City lawmakers in December agreed to increase water tariffs for all users in 2010 and cut generous subsidies, but that hard-fought change may not be enough.

A new water tax will ask rich residents to pay over 3x as much as poor residents for their water, which would work out to no more than $40 per year.

Some of the blame goes to leaks and theft, which accounts for almost 40 percent of the water lost in Mexico City (!).

"Business as usual is not sustainable. Can you bring water from far away? Yes, but how much? And how much of this scarce resource is available?" said Gustavo Saltiel, who is a World Bank development expert in Mexico.

The large lake system that once watered the Aztec civilization has been eliminated by the population growth and resultant massive water use by Mexico City residents. The water table is in such bad shape that buildings in the downtown are sinking.

In a tragic twist, the summer months in and around Mexico City often see the city dumped on by huge amounts of rain daily- but there is little infrastructure to deal with, let alone capture and utilize the water, so the situation continues to get worse.

With that kind of sad situation facing them, there is an opportunity to make some kind of massive change, in my opinion. Call it the way of looking at things that sees opportunity in challenge, but with all of the available water storage and purification methods being created here in the U.S. and in other places, this is the kind of situation where a new innovative company could make their mark.
And it could be just in time.

Photo Credit: NewsHour (via Flickr under CCL)