The metropolis of nearly 22 million people is facing a severe water crisis as a tangle of problems — including geography and leaks — are compounded by climate change.
  • Altofaltception@lemmy.world
    343·
    9 months ago

    This is briefly mentioned in the article, but it fails to capture the scale of the disaster.

    The city of Tenochtitlan was built on an island in a lake (Lake Texcoco). The Aztecs built a series of dams to control water levels in the lake. When Cortez conquered the Aztecs, he destroyed the dams. This resulted in frequent flooding in the city. In their infinite wisdom, the Spanish conquerors drained the lake, to avoid flooding. The city continued to expand into the areas previously occupied by the lake. And now here we are.

  • PlasmaDistortion@lemm.eeEnglish
    102·
    9 months ago

    “Day zero is fake news”

    Which tells me that it is almost here. Crying fake news is a for sure way to identify a liar.

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
      4·
      9 months ago

      Three mostly, with the first two as contributing causes and also climate change with a side of historical colonialism.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        4·
        9 months ago

        Far more colonialism than climate change. The original Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan, where the Spanish built their own capital of Mexico City, was built on both natural and artificial lake islands. The Spanish razed the city, drained the lake and built their capital on the lake bed. So Mexico City now has to get its water from an aquifer, which is not sufficient, and it’s sinking into the lake bed.