Mexico City’s water shortages reach dangerous levels

Three dams which supply water to the Valley of Mexico are only 30% full, Mexican outlet Excelsior reported this week. The National Water Commission estimates that Mexico City and some surrounding areas could run out of water by Aug. 26 if reservoirs aren’t replenished or consumptions isn’t cut significantly. Mexico is now one of the largest consumers of bottled water, along with China and the U.S., Americas Quarterly noted last year, and 57% of the population lacks access to safe drinking water. The country needs to overhaul and update its dams and distribution systems to ensure water supply to residents, the outlet wrote. The issue has taken on a fresh urgency in the lead up to Mexico’s upcoming elections: Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico City’s former mayor, is the frontrunner to win.

South America suffered under the heat this summer, with climate change and El Niño — a weather phenomenon which causes ocean currents to warm — both battering the continent. As temperatures rise, researchers believe that the effects of El Niño will worsen. A string of heat waves that hit Brazil lasted for days, and sometimes weeks at a time. Not only are “heat waves more widespread compared to past El Niño events, but they are also much more recurrent and intense,” one researcher told The Globe and Mail.

Ships attempting to cross the Panama Canal are stuck in massive queues brought about by dramatically low levels of water due to the ongoing drought. Vessels can sometimes wait for weeks for space to cross, or pay millions of dollars to jump to the front of the line. A drought from El Niño meant that Gatun Lake, a major route in the canal system, received limited rain last year. “It’s just astronomically out of control,” one industry expert told Fortune.