The severe water crisis in southern Tamaulipas has made residents of neighborhoods close to Tancol face a harsh reality.

At 3 AM, neighbors have been forced to get in line in order to fill up their water jugs, according to a testimonial by Milenio Noticias.

Due to a crisis that has increasingly worsened, several businesses have been forced to close doors and the cost of filling jugs with water has reached a historic price increase due to high demand.

As such, sanitary authorities have intensified surveillance and monitoring of water purifying businesses, ice cream stores, and popsicle shops in order to guarantee the quality of water offered to the population. However, demand continues exceeding the supply capability of these establishments and that means these shops get crowded and create long lines of people looking for water.

Water extracted from ponds in public parks in Tampico

Extreme scarcity has made some citizens resort to desperate measures such as stealing water from small ponds in public parks.

This is occurring in Colonia Unidad Modelo in Tampico, specifically in "Las Tortuguitas" lagoon inhabited by ducks, frogs, and turtles, which has become a resource for all those who have had no access to water for several days.

With 20-liter jugs in hand, residents immerse themselves in the lagoon to fill them up, using the water here to fulfill their basic needs despite its low hygienic conditions.

This situation reveals the urgent need to find solutions to the water crisis in the region.

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