2004 was a historic year in Sonora, where one of the worst droughts that the state has ever experienced was recorded due to the lack of rain. This drought lasted at least three years and shortly after the rainy season began again.
Twenty years after that event, Sonora is going through a situation similar to that then, since during 2024 one of the worst droughts has occurred according to the National Water Commission (Conagua).
The lack of rain has caused the agricultural cycle in the state to be reduced by 70 percent, according to the general director of the Northwest Basin Agency, Graciela Catalina Treviño, and this also caused the poor recovery of the aquifers that are prioritizing the vital liquid for human consumption.
“Right now we are in an extraordinary season that has not happened before. We have not had such an intense drought for 20 years. The support that is being given is through pipes and the rehabilitation of well drilling,” he explained.
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Future risks
Having very little water catchment in the dams and therefore the low water levels in the aquifer, is a significant concern, because even though there is not yet such a serious affectation, eventually, if it does not rain, there could be great risks with the reserve of drinking water.
Treviño explained that if it does not rain next year, a situation that also occurred in 2004, there would be a risk that the agricultural cycle would not be completed and that the extraction of drinking water from wells in different localities could be affected.
Source: expreso
