President Felipe Calderon and the National Water Commission recently launched a new campaign in dire effort to raise critical awareness in water conservation.

Mexico is facing its worst drought in 69 years with poor rainfall depleting underground water reserves and thwarting irrigation of crops. In the capital the problem is compounded by a rapid drying of Mexico City’s lake-bed soil and sinking of the sprawling metropolis.-UPI

Droughts, which are thought by scientist to be caused by naturally occuring climate changes, have wrecked havoc on personal, business, and agricultural water supplies throughtout Mexico. Public officials, however, blame the severe shortages on mismanagment, waste, inadequacies and ignorance.

President Calderon has urged every business, government office, parent, and child to become actively involved in water conservation stating:

Water is a member of the Mexican family, present at home every day and therefore deserving of attention, not neglect. The water is like your family, protect it!” -President Felipe Calderon

It has been estimated in Mexico City alone, 4 out of every 10 liters of water which enter the city are wasted. Extreme measures such as placing stiff fines on citizens found watering lawns or washing cars with a hose have been taken in efforts to reduce waste.

It seems pretty cut and dry; no pun intended. We are not ignorant, we know what we have to do. The problem is we don’t think past today. Somehow we see no correlation between washing a car with a hose or brushing our teeth with the water running and not having water three months from now. Reality bites.

So there you have it my fellow Mexicans. Close your faucets and open your arms and hearts. Treat water as you would treat family. I shouldn’t have to say this, but treat water like someone in the family that you actually love and cherish, not like you would treat your old smelly bearded bitchy Aunt from Torreon that you can’t stand.

Agua es Vida.