Water scarcity strains families amid Torreón's heatwave

Torreón, Mexico – The relentless 40-degree Celsius heat makes life inside homes unbearable for many in Torreón, where air conditioning units sit idle due to a lack of water. Berenice Alba Carrillo, a resident of the Mijares neighborhood, sits outside her home with her two daughters, surrounded by the ubiquitous plastic drums and tubs used to collect the precious water that arrives only sporadically.

"Living inside the house is difficult because there's no water for the air conditioners," Berenice laments. "The fan air is hot. We can only use mini-splits, but we don't have those." Her household relies on a collection of containers, including a black water tank on the roof that managed to capture a small amount of water from an early morning delivery. This meager supply must cover all essential services, from bathing to washing dishes and flushing toilets. For drinking and cooking, families like Berenice's must purchase purified bottled water.

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Living inside the house is difficult because there's no water for the air conditioners. The fan air is hot. We can only use mini-splits, but we don't have those.

Many neighborhoods in Torreón, including Mijares, Fidel Velázquez, Zaragoza Sur, and Luis Donaldo Colosio, receive water on a rotating schedule, known as "tandeo." Residents must maximize these brief windows to fill their storage tanks, which have become a common sight on home facades. Data from the National Survey of Household Income and Expenses indicates that 202,160 homes in Coahuila receive water only every three days. This chronic shortage has led to a surge in reported water supply failures, with the Municipal System of Water and Sanitation (Simas) of Torreón receiving 2,932 reports in the first quarter of the year, an average of 32.5 daily reports, up from 25 per day in previous years.

Despite the growing crisis, experts like Miguel Ángel Hernández, director of the Center for Research on Water and Human Rights (CIADH), argue that the fundamental issues are not being addressed. The current strategy relies heavily on drilling new wells, a plan the municipal president, Román Alberto Cepeda, supports, with eight new wells slated for this year. However, an analysis of operational wells by Simas shows the total number has remained constant at 83 between 2023 and 2025, raising questions about the effectiveness of this approach in guaranteeing a stable water supply for the city.

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We only get it for a little while, and filling the tank with just a little is what we survive on.