Rainfall

Almost the end of the rainy season and the Rancho del Oro weather station is saying only 58% of average. Did any dams upstream even get opened this summer?

Last week an article in Lakeside News reported there has not been enough rain this season to fill the Tepalo waterfalls.

I have not noticed any lirio at the Ajijic malecon but I've been away for the past few weeks.  Usually the lirio comes down from the dam openings.

Courtesy of our fine local weather station, https://www.ajijicweather.com/wxindex.php

Take a look at the lake level chart under 'weather' if you want the real picture.. the lake has not risen above 51% of volume since June - the 2 previous years maxed out at 72% & 76%, comparatively.  Lake level is flat-lining.  Where's the 2024 Lakeside water going to come from? I don't think with 5.4 million people in Guadalajara, Jalisco officials can justify releasing dam water for 50K Lakeside residents, so wells here don't go dry.. What ya think?

Rainfall @ 50% below normal & lake level 25% below normal in October - very very concerning.  And, no conversation about it - no news stories, no interviews with local officials about it, no 'what if' remedial plans. Whats's up with that?  No way the shortfall can be made up in the next 2 months. And due to snowbird population swells, consumption goes way up & all that toilet flushing too, oft-times right into the lake, untreated. So yeah, a low, stinky lake, seasonally gunnel- to-gunnel with demanding old people. How pleasant.

Have I missed some official statement of concern?  So what happens if those newsworthy $300K+ 'Latitude' condos being sold are discovered to not have a viable well..?  I guess that will make the news. And I guess it's not newsworthy to report that there were no dam releases this summer, because the  dams aren't full either.  Would not want to upset people with the facts in an election year.  

Whatever is happening is beyond a conversation about La Nino or El Nino.  Looks like drought to me - it happens everywhere, is cyclical & tends to persist for several years. Lakside's problems with infrastructure are about to get much worse than just daily bad traffic on a 2 lane road.

One year doth a drought not make. BUT this 'rainy season' will go down in the record books.  Now if next year follows this one with similar figures, watch out.

"One year doth a drought not make. "

Wanna bet? Depends on how many people are using and wasting water. Most tourists and snowbirds are clueless- they take 20 minute showers, leave the water running while brushing their teeth or doing dishes.

Here where I live on the coast in Sayulita it also didn't rain near enough last year. The municipal wells started to go dry in April. They didn't send water down my area's line at all for 4 months- mid-April until mid/late-August. I had to buy pipas and be ultra conservative with water. My lush gardens dried up and were full of plants with dead leaves. When the rains started, I collected buckets of water, placed under the water spout that drains off my roof. Used that to wash the dishes, flush the toilet (as minimally as possible) wash the floors. Saved the tinako water for taking quickie showers and flushing the upstairs toilet so I didn't have to haul buckets of water up the stairs.

This summer we also haven't gotten much rain. I've lived here for 20 years and it used to rain heavily almost every night or late afternoon from July- early Oct. The arroyo just below my house used to be waist deep by this time of year, now it's just a trickle.

Flushing the toilet every time one pees is one of the most criminal wastes of water, regardless of whether you have a low flush toilet and I wish people would stop doing that- no one needs to flush away a little bit of urine.

The lake level is not relevant to the wells where our water comes from. There have been a few cycles in the past 100 years (the last one in 2001) where the lake shore was 3 kms further out than it is today and the wells still had water. Over building is a far bigger concern.

Nailed it, Bob! What was the population in 2001? What is the population now? THAT'S where the problem is.

I also imagine if the wells do run dry we will be pulling water from the lake, legal or not...

For sure the population increase is a big factor, but also new construction of water-guzzlers- swimming pools, ponds, lawns. Considering what looks like increasing drought conditions in many places, there needs to be limits placed on those things which are non-essential.

mudgirl wrote:...... there needs to be limits placed on those things which are non-essential.

Let us know when you see this happening in Mexico!

I didn't say it was likely to happen here, but it should. ;-)

I know you are well aware of the rainy season climate here on the coast, ferret, having lived here. But I can tell you that as far as temperature goes, the same thing is happening here- it has never been so consistently and unbearably hot in the 20 years I have lived here full time, with months on end of 100 degree or higher days. (If you just look at the temps, they aren't that high, but with the humidity factor, the "perceived temperature" has been unrelentingly brutal.)

And when it used to rain almost every afternoon or night, that cooled things down. With not nearly as much rain now, it's awful. And I'm someone who never complained about the heat, but this summer has been really hard to handle.

I can think of a few people I'd nominate for that honor. :-)

Not just us.  

Driest monsoon season in Phoenix on record.  I also saw that Nogales had a pittance of their norm.  My friends in Bisbee said it's the hottest and driest anyone there can remember, going back 40+ years.

When I lived in Bisbee the monsoon normally started on or near the 4th of July (often drowned the fireworks).  This year it didn't start until August and not much since then.  As I recall Lakeside's monsoon had a late and feeble start.  

Though not called the monsoon here in Mexico the rainy season from Central Mexico to Arizona is part of the same weather pattern.  

The 2023 Phoenix monsoon was the driest on record
Monsoon 2023 was one for the record books for Phoenix.
By Royal Norman
Published: Sep. 28, 2023
The monsoon for 2023 in Phoenix will go down as the driest since 1895, when weather records began being kept regularly in the area. We only got 0.15 of an inch of rain at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, less than half the rain of the previous driest monsoon in 1924.

What drives me mad is how stupid the water company is where I live here in Sayulita. When their wells are full, they send me and everyone else far more water than we actually need, for hours at full on pressure. So people think, oh, there's no need to conserve water and waste it. Then, when the wells start to run dry in April after Semana Santa, they start cutting everyone off and everyone starts complaining that they aren't getting water. Wouldn't you think they'd say, "Hey guys, just because there's lots of water in the wells now, maybe we should not be sending unlimited water to everyone until March, only to run out in April. Maybe we should think ahead and try to prevent a problem instead of having to deal with it after the fact."

Yeah, I know, that makes too much sense and we're in Mexico.

People with pools do get charged more for municipal water here, but more money in the water company coffers doesn't fill their wells. People with pools should definitely not be allowed to fill them with municipal water. Let them pay for pipas.

But even the poor folks here waste water. there's a little slumsville area near me I pass every day and those people are out hosing down the road every day until there are lagitos of water. I understand that they are trying to keep the dust down in front of their hovels, but when their neighbors up the road aren't getting enough water to take a shower or wash the dishes, they shouldn't be allowed to do that.

One day when I was driving by, after the town had stopped sending water all the way out the line to my place, but those people, on the same line, still were getting water, I saw the road was awash in water. One of these dummies had left a hose turned on, pouring water continuously onto the street. In addition to that, the other end of the hose that was connected to the faucet obviously didn't have a rubber washer, as it was also pouring water. I took a video and took it to the water office. But of course nothing was done about it.

To add to my post- the pipas fill from local wells, too. There is only so much ground water in an area at any particular time of year. Every well lowers the ground water that fills other wells, unless there are lots of different underground water courses and springs that various wells are tapping into. So buying pipas doesn't really solve the lack of water in municipal wells issue.

Found an article this evening on Monterrey & new Tesla plant that got approved, Elon promising to only use 'residual' water (reclaimed wastewater)... This summer, resident population was getting only 6 hours of municipal water daily, whereas no limits on industry - Heineken, Coca-Cola. Article @ www.restofworld.org.. search 'Elon & Monterrey." This story has it all.. Interesting website, a new find.... (sorry Im being lame on link~)