01/01/25
Happy New Year! My 2025 resolution is to publish an eBook about how to live off the grid. To keep it personal and interesting, I’m including our own story about our move to Mexico, the choices we made in setting up our off-grid tiny home, and how those choices have been working for us. I’ll be posting here about my progress, partly to keep myself accountable, and also to get feedback on the various chapters I’m working on. And of course, subscribers to my email list will get first crack at my book when it’s finished. This week, the focus has been on WATER, as dry season is about to begin and we want to be ready. Come and see what we learned about water in our off-grid home in Mexico.
This week I have been working on Chapter 4, which is all about water. Before designing a water system for your home, I feel like it’s important to understand the outside factors that will affect your access to this very precious liquid. These outside factors can be grouped into two areas:
- Environmental (factors caused by Mother Nature), and
- Community (factors caused by people).
You will not have a lot of control over either of these areas, but you can plan for the issues that may come up. And really, these two groups feed off each other. Climate change is a perfect example of this. After centuries of communities dumping pollutants into the atmosphere, we are now seeing the environmental impacts. Temperatures around the world are getting warmer, the glaciers are melting, and the sea level is rising. Then communities respond by making plans for how to deal with these issues, both globally and locally.
Most of us are not in charge of making environmental policy, and those of us who are immigrants to new countries (*raises hand*) are even less so. Still, making an effort to understand our local issues will help us design the best possible water system for our home, utilizing the resources we have without being a drain on our environment.
To that end, I’m creating a set of questions for my readers to consider when designing their systems, and one section deals with environmental and community concerns. To provide an example, I will answer my own questions, which will hopefully guide the readers in making their own water decisions.
So….Question #4: “How has climate change affected your area?” has really been sending me down a rabbit hole. In Mexico, we have A LOT going on with our water. I will do my best to summarize, because I’m sure that smarter and more qualified people are working on this, and it would very pretentious and beyond the scope of the book to try to solve the country’s water problems. (I’m saying this mostly for my own benefit, because it’s very easy for me to get sidetracked and I really want to finish this water chapter.) But, if Mexican water issues also interest you, here are two resources I found particularly enlightening:
A drought map published by Mexico’s National Water Commission (CONAGUA). It’s searchable by month or year and data goes back to 2014, so you can compare how dry a region is now versus how dry it used to be:
https://smn.conagua.gob.mx/es/climatologia/monitor-de-sequia/monitor-de-sequia-en-mexico
And here’s an excellent report published by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), called State and Perspectives of Climate Change in Mexico: A Starting Point
From those and other sources, here’s what I’ve learned about water issues in my adopted country, focusing on my municipality of Bahia de Banderas, Nayarit. Have a look and let me know if there’s anything missing that I should include- within reason. Again, we’re just trying to get a basic understanding of water issues in our immediate area, not solve the world’s problems. (At least, not yet!)
What is the average rainfall?
From December to May, it’s “dry season” and hardly rains at all. Our driest month is April, when our municipality only receives .07 inches in a month. “Wet season” is June through November. Our wettest month is August, when we get an average of 9.61 inches for the month.
Is your area prone to flooding?
During the rainy season, Bahia de Banderas does have a lot of problems with flooding and landslides. The beginning of the “road” to my house is actually a dry arroyo that fills up with runoff when it rains. Because our house is on a hill, we’re safe from floods, but landslides are a very real concern. Last year I watched a tree slide down the hill and fall into my neighbor’s pasture, destroying a section of fence in the process. I could easily see how a tree could fall onto our house from the uphill side. I also worry about erosion taking the house from the downhill side, so I’m working out a plan to shore up that side of hill.
Is your area prone to drought?
In June 2023, rainfall measured 60% less than the average for that month between 1991 to 2020. I’m still trying to find the numbers from 2024, but based on my own observations it seemed like our “wet season” was fairly dry. November 2023 I remembered being very wet, but in November 2024 we hardly got any rain at all.
Still, compared to the rest of Mexico, our region is considered merely “abnormally dry” during the dry season months. Most of Mexico is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought.
How has climate change affected your area?
Climate change has been a major concern, especially when coupled with the demand for water caused by population growth (in Nayarit, an increase of 14% in ten years). Much of the water distribution infrastructure is in poor condition and has not been modernized. Additionally, more than 90% of Mexico’s population live in regions with water pollution problems, which is complicated further by poor wastewater management. It is estimated that as little as 20% of wastewater is treated in Mexico. Other concerns:
- Twenty years ago, we used to see a lot more fishing boats in towns that used to be known as fishing villages, like Bucerias and Sayulita. Increasing water temperature, sea-level rise, precipitation changes, ocean acidification, and increased frequency of storms have been decreasing the number of fish and driving small fisheries out of business.
- The warmer ocean is also affecting tourism, which my state depends on. Increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, the rise in algae and sargassum (which contribute to increased fish die-offs), and the arrival of more hurricanes wreak havoc on our beautiful beaches. The diving business, which depends on healthy coral reefs, have been impacted by the recent coral bleaching from warmer water. Many tourist destinations, both coastal and in the interior, are battling the loss of their ecosystems, the reduction of their biodiversity and the reduction of the natural water supply. Ecotourism has been increasing in an effort to save their livelihood, so hopefully that trend continues.
- Climate change also affects our public health. The increases in temperature and precipitation is closely related to the incidence of dengue, with the highest incidences observed during the warm rainy season. Dengue sent a few people in my pueblo to the hospital this summer. Twenty years ago it was virtually unknown.
- Agriculture has also been affected. UNAM cited a study forecasting a sharp drop in corn, wheat, sorghum, rice, and soybean yields. By the end of the century, nationwide yield reductions in soybean and rice could be greater than 50%, drops in corn and sorghum yields could exceed 40%, and wheat yields 20%. Sugarcane yields could be reduced up to 11% by the end of the century. These six crops represent 65% of the cultivated area in Mexico and have the highest consumption. This scenario implies yield reductions of between 5% and 20% for these crops over the next two decades, and up to 80% by the end of the century for some crops.
What are the known challenges in your area?
Last year, scientists at the University of Guadalajara warned, “there is a sustained decrease in the capture of water in rivers and surface tributaries, as well as in aquifers. This is motivated by global situations, such as climate change, and regional and local situations, such as water extraction, channel modification, impacts due to extraction of materials, massive urbanization and little innovation in care.”
In southern Nayarit, there is an aggravating factor: the dispersion of its inhabitants makes it difficult to obtain a regular and efficient supply of water. In Bahía de Banderas alone, it is estimated that 46% of homes do not have a regular water supply.
In my little town, the aging infrastructure is definitely a problem. My parents often complain about the city water being turned off for days at a time while they fix one problem or another. Since I’m not connected to city water, my problems are different: Lurko and I have to keep an eye on the water levels in our cistern, and make sure the water truck can make it up our hill to refill the cistern. We also have to monitor the levels in our rooftop tinaco so that the water doesn’t cut off in the middle of a hot shower.
I will say that Mexican government agencies are at least trying to tackle these very large problems. Just a few days ago, our new president Claudia Sheinbaum was in Bucerias to dedicate the now-officially-finished Autopista (highway) from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara. During the dedication ceremony, Sheinbaum announced priority projects for the state of Nayarit in 2025, including construction of a new aqueduct to bring good quality water to coastal communities.
Even though we do have water issues, I know that comparatively speaking, we have it good here in Nayarit. I keep thinking about other states like Chiapas, where Coca-Cola is cheaper and more accessible than water. If you live in Mexico, I would love to hear about the water issues that affect your area- either you personally or people you know. Please let me know in the comments. Thanks!!
