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Mexico is experiencing its most severe and widespread drought in a decade, with water levels so low in some areas that the effects can be seen from space.
For example, the Bustillos Lagoon in northern Mexico is at 50% of its normal volume, and the U.S. Geological Survey released images from the Landsat satellite this month that show how much the lagoon shrunk in June compared to six months earlier in January.
The reduction in the lagoon’s carrying capacity was fatal to thousands of fish.
The falling water levels are concentrating pollutants, further deteriorating water quality and putting more stress on fish, said Irma de la Pena, Cuauhtémoc’s environmental director. He told CNN In June.
The Bustillos Lagoon is an important water source for the state of Chihuahua, mainly Irrigate About 20,000 farms are running out of water. Because of the lack of water, people in the state of Chihuahua have watched their crops and livestock wither and die.
But it’s not just the Bustillos lagoon: More than 85% of the country was affected by the drought in May, with some areas seeing almost no rain since the end of 2022, the agency said. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
To see more images from Mexico’s drought-stricken lakes, check out the video below.
“The drought has created some pretty big deficits in terms of rainfall shortfalls in both the northwest and south-central parts of the country,” Derek Vollmer, WWF’s director of waterscapes, told Business Insider.
While the view from space is bleak, images taken from the ground paint an even more dire picture for the people, plants and animals suffering from drought.
Some farmers cannot provide enough water for their livestock, and cows and donkeys have died during the hot, dry months. Rancher Jesús Maria Palacios said other farmers have also left the area because the situation is so tough. He told Reuters. In June.
Even honeybees are becoming extinct.
“There is almost no vegetation on this land right now because of the drought,” says beekeeper Adán Rascón Ramos. He told Reuters.That includes wildflowers that haven’t bloomed yet and need water.
As a result, pollen-hunting bees are turning to the few crops that remain, and herbicides are killing them in large numbers.
An unusually dry year
Using Landsat satellite data, the researchers could determine that Mexico’s current drought is more widespread than the previous drought in 2011, as it has affected two regions: the north and the central and southern parts of the country.
“From hundreds of miles up in space, we can look at things like droughts and see very subtle changes in what’s happening in the landscape,” Terry Sohl of the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center told BI.
A number of factors are at work in the recent drought: an El Niño weather pattern last year brought less-than-normal rainfall to the north, while a weak La Niña weather pattern affected rainfall in the south and central regions. Adding to the problem, the first half of this year was also very dry, according to NOAA.
Tropical storms in June provided some relief to the central and southwestern parts of the country, but northwestern Mexico remains in drought.
More than half of Mexico’s reservoirs are now below 50 percent full, “and we need a lot more rain to get them back up,” Vollmer said. “One big rain event won’t get us out of the drought.”
Vollmer said dry conditions may become the norm in some areas. Droughts are classified based on historical averages, but “we’re moving into a new state,” he said. What was once a drought may now become the new normal.
There are steps that can be taken to prepare for future droughts. WWF is working in Mexico to help communities Water storage This is achieved by implementing policies to keep river levels above certain levels, and although it was originally an initiative to protect biodiversity, “it’s increasingly being seen as a kind of insurance against drought,” Vollmer said.