The drought is serious! The water level of reservoirs across the country in Colombia is less than 30%

It is understood that the Colombian state is located in the tropics of the equatorial region, the annual December to February is the dry season in the country, but due to the influence of El Ni ñ o, aggravated the drought.

As early as January this year, Colombian local media reported that Colombia was affected by El Ni ñ o, leading to a serious drought problem. Colombian President Pedro said on January 24 that the country had entered a state of natural disasters.

As of April, the drought in Colombia has continued and its impact has intensified, with water shortages and falling water levels in several reservoirs in Colombia, which has affected both water supply and power generation. According to EPM, one of Colombia's largest suppliers of public electricity, water and natural gas, water supplies will be reduced in Santander and Antioquia.

Until recently, the Colombian government released a panoramic picture of the water level of the national reservoir, the average water level of the reservoir is less than 30% of the normal value, and the average water level of the reservoir has dropped to 29.96% of the normal water level, approaching the critical point of 27%. As a result, water restrictions were imposed earlier in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, but the government will wait for the future and will not rule out the implementation of a water distribution system throughout the country if there is insufficient rainfall.

In fact, Colombia is rich in freshwater resources, but some departments of the country's government do not make good use of the resources. According to the analysis of some experts, Colombia is the country with the most abundant water resources in Latin America, but it is also the country that wastes the most water, especially in the establishment and maintenance of crops, all because agriculture is an important pillar of Colombia's economy, and the main agricultural products are coffee, bananas and flowers. These agricultural products need a lot of water in the process of growing, and 70% of the water in the country is used in agriculture.

In addition, the current level of the Chingaza reservoir system in the central part of the country is 45.27% of the effective volume canned level, which limits current water consumption, and many experts call on agricultural industries such as coffee and bananas to adopt more effective irrigation techniques to optimize water use instead of using it at will.

In addition, according to data provided by the Colombian National Planning Agency (DNP), 4 litres of water out of every 10 litres of water in the country is lost due to spills or leaks of water tanks, deterioration of the pipeline network, illegal connections or measurement errors. And there are serious water pollution, deforestation and other problems.

In response, the Colombian president said in an earlier post on the social platform that he had ordered "major reforms" to ensure that the country had access to clean water within the next 30 years.

However, there is also good news. According to the Colombian Ministry of Environment and the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environment (IDEAM), the rainy season will enter in mid-late April, and it will rain soon, which is expected to alleviate the current drought, but it is likely to be followed by La Nina and heavy rains. People in the coffee industry said that although heavy rainfall can ease the drought, excessive rainfall and low temperatures will affect the growth of coffee, and farmers need to be prepared for it.