From the summer of 2024 to the summer of 2025, Mexico City swung dramatically between two extremes. The city experienced the looming threat of an extremely dry rainy season in June of 2024, and, a year later, the heaviest rains seen in decades. Although this was previously considered a climate anomaly, the alternating rhythm of drought and deluge is becoming increasingly normal and the new hydrological identity of Mexico City and its surroundings. Due to this sinusoidal behavior, the city’s relationship with water has been evolving over countless centuries. But, now, a new challenge has arrived: managing an abundance of rain within a very short window of time.

A year prior to one of the rainiest Junes in Mexico City’s history, Mexico City was preparing for “day zero”, the date when the municipal water system could no longer provide large portions of water to the city’s residents. The reservoirs that provided Mexico City with almost 25 percent of its potable water reached exceptionally low levels after repeated insufficient rainfalls and over-extraction. Due to below-average precipitation and La Niña patterns, such as cooler than average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, much of Mexico’s central region was facing extreme drought. More specifically, high pressure zones in the atmosphere 1) blocked clouds from developing and, 2) did not allow warm air to rise; two processes needed for the production of rain. To make matters worse, infrastructurally speaking, Mexico City’s poorly planned and exhaustive water systems caused the ground to sink at alarming rates; making it significantly harder for rainwater to seep into the drained aquifer.

However, in 2025, the inverse occurred. By June, the start of the rainy season in Mexico, the skies did not stop opening to release rain. Over the span of 25 days, more than 220 million cubic meters of rainwater fell over Mexico City. The city’s Ministry of Water and Sustainable Management reported that this was the largest volume recorded since 1968; an unprecedented event in recent history. The rain did not stop there. In July, a staggering 298 million cubic meters of rain fell. This figure is enough to fill Mexico City’s massive “Estadio Azteca”, which seats over 83,264 people, 196 times over. Considering the extent of the rainfall in June and July, the city faced a compounded struggle to adapt to the unexpected rainfall.

This shift in meteorological activities is driven by the complicated transition from La Niña to El Niño patterns over the Pacific Ocean. Previously, La Niña suppressed storm activity in the region. But, El Niño flipped the script and brought amplified rainfalls over central and southern Mexico. This transition, in turn, exacerbated atmospheric evaporation, increasing the amount of water vapor in the air and condensing to cause intense rainfalls.

To further intensify the rains caused by El Niño, the 2025 rainy season was characterized by an uptick in local tropical cyclones and wave activity in the Pacific and Atlantic basins. Although these storms did not hit Mexico City directly, they moved huge amounts of moisture to central regions of Mexico, triggering long-lasting storm clouds and potent rains over Mexico City. The already-increased atmospheric instability worsened as warm, moist air from the ocean mixed with cooler air in the upper atmosphere. Fast winds, tropical moisture, warm sea temperatures, and high altitude levels in Mexico City combined to create the perfect, but destructive, setup for a strong storm.

While the intense rains did some much needed replenishment of water sources, it also revealed Mexico City’s deep vulnerability to rainfall, and improper infrastructure to withstand it. Without adequate urban planning, rain can become a hazard, rather than a natural resource. All over the capital, streets became rivers, train stations flooded, and parks resembled lakes. Entire quadrants of neighborhoods were covered in a mix of stormwater and sewage. However, the problem is not inherently rain. It is equally a result of a city that has been designed to shed water, rather than absorb it back into the aquifer. The hydrology of Mexico City has increasingly become misaligned with its pre-colonial and post-colonial infrastructure. As the city continues to flood, this becomes more apparent each year.

To understand how the city reached this point, it is essential to understand the geographic and historical foundation of the region. For a brief summary, the area that is now called Mexico City, but was previously the Mexica capital, Tenochtitlan, was built upon several lakes and thrived on an intricate network of natural and artificial canals, floating gardens (chinampas), and wetlands prior to colonization. Water was considered an integral and necessary part of daily life, rather than an enemy. Although floods were still prominent centuries ago, they were accommodated by buffer designs meant to alleviate the impact of heavy rains, unlike in present day Mexico City. However, everything changed when the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century. In pursuit of permanence, Spanish settlers began a centuries-long effort to drain lakes, fill wetlands, and change the natural landscape of the city. Rivers were rerouted, covered, and channelled to expel water from what had once been a basin of water abundance.

This Spanish-imposed rejection of water continues to haunt the city. Paved streets with impermeable infrastructure now cover most of urban and peri-urban Mexico City, drastically decreasing the capacity with which soils and aquifers can absorb rainfall. Since groundwater extraction far outpaced the natural recharge of aquifers, the city also began to sink several centimeters each year. Therefore, yes, flooding is certainly directly correlated with intense rains, but it is also caused by the rain having no designated place to go. Modern Mexico City floods because it was designed to displace water, not to manage and coexist with it.

In response to these historical and systemic failures, organizations like Isla Urbana have emerged as pioneers of a new approach to water management in urban and peri-urban environments. Isla Urbana treats rain as an asset to be harnessed rather than a problem to be disposed of. Since 2009, Isla Urbana has worked to install rainwater harvesting systems throughout Mexico, particularly in underserved communities where municipal water supply is inconsistent and unreliable. Rainfall is captured from rooftops, passed through a series of filters to remove contaminants, stored in covered cisterns, and made available for human contact. Through this work, many Isla Urbana workers, including myself, have learned to appreciate rainfall as a source of hope and water access, rather than something to be feared and hated. Step by step, Isla Urbana is gradually guiding Mexico City toward a renewed respect for water; one that echoes the values held in pre-colonial times.

What makes rainwater harvesting particularly effective is that it addresses multiple dimensions of the water crisis. 1) It reduces dependence on overly-used centralized supply networks. 2) It captures and stores rainwater that would otherwise contribute to flooding dangers. 3) It helps recharge local groundwater systems by slowing rainwater runoff and allowing more of it to percolate into underground aquifers. 4) It provides clean, reliable water to families, with many public health benefits. In other words, rainwater harvesting systems have the potential to restore hydrological balance in an environmentally unjust city that has lost its capacity to naturally absorb rainwater.

More globally, rainwater harvesting aligns with broader goals of climate adaptation and resilient urban planning. As weather patterns, such as the El Niño and La Niña phenomena, cities must learn to manage water in a way that prioritizes supply, timing, storage, and flow rate. Similar to the buffers created prior to Spanish conquest in Mexico, harvesting rainwater provides on-site buffers that alleviate the negative impacts of rainy seasons. During the rainy season, rainwater can be collected to mitigate flooding, and, during dry periods, stored water can be used to reduce demand on centralized water systems. Hence, it is crucial to integrate these systems into public buildings, parks, and industrial hubs!

The potential is enormous. Mexico City receives more rainfall annually than London, a city known for its ubiquitous rainfall. So, the problem in Mexico City, as established previously, is not the lack of rain; it is the inability to properly use it. It is crucial for our society to rethink how we manage urban water cycles in a way that celebrates rain, rather than disregards it. Parks should be designed to double as water basins. Newly created streets should be permeable, rather than sealed. Green infrastructure, such as wetlands and rain gardens, should be considered necessary functional components to a city’s system. Rainwater harvesting should become more and more common in urban infrastructure.

Rain in Mexico City is no longer an occasional event. It has become a norm during the summer months. It is an increasingly intense phenomenon that requires a novel system built on flexibility, absorption, and just redistribution of water resources. Therefore, the water crises of 2024 and 2025 are not necessarily extremes; they are parallel images of a deeper structural failure and vulnerability. Both events arose from a disconnect between Mexico City’s built environment and its natural hydrological tendencies. Through all of this, rainwater harvesting offers a trajectory towards a newfound urban water resilience. But, it must be accompanied by innovation, imagination, and investment.

A new sustainable water system requires the understanding from centuries of ecological wisdom all over Mexico. By learning from the past and planning for an uncertain future, Mexico City can become a global model for how to thrive in extreme temperatures and climates. Our globe’s goal should be to live with rain sustainably, ethically, and equitably.

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If you walk down the streets of any corner of the world, you will typically find a dog and their human companion, moving together in harmony. In Parque México, Mexico City, a spotted beagle treads alongside their friend. In Central Park, New York City, a goldendoodle leaps into the air while playing fetch. In Freedom Park, Lagos, a determined pug struggles to run to their owner. These scenes are replicated in city after city across the globe. 

Some dogs are pampered, while others roam the streets, attempting to survive. For instance, in Mexico City, a metropolis famous for its woven-in dog-walking culture, over 70 percent of residents own pets, and 80% of those own dogs; helping position Mexico as the second highest country in the world for household pet ownership. Despite this deep cultural affinity for animals, the city is also home to an estimated 1.2 million stray dogs. Some of these strays are neighborhood-fed, others were born in the streets, and others are former pets, lost or abandoned. The abundance of stray dogs is not inherently a shortcoming or the culpability of the individual, rather it is a symptom of larger structural failure. It is an example of how socioeconomic inequality erodes human, and, through association, animal, life’s everyday fabric.

Elena’s words demonstrate the enduring relationship between dogs and humans. Their presence and support, although anecdotal in this case, is foundational to human development. As a consequence, regardless of the setting, dogs, both household and stray, have found a way to mirror their companion’s, or lack thereof, condition. Dogs serve as reflections and indicators of societal health, well-being and equality. These four-legged friends are almost human-adjacent and are part of the daily routines, emotions, and environments around them. The inextricable bond between a dog and their owner is a complex symbol of our world’s successes and frequent failures.

Just like Elena said, this interspecies bond is material and visceral, as well as emotional. Dogs, just like humans, are molded by their environmental, and water-related, conditions. At first glance, the words “dog” and “water” might seem disparate. However, upon further examination, these problems are far more intimately connected than anticipated. In a world in which 1 in 3 people do not have access to safe drinking water, dogs are often left experiencing the same conditions as their human-friends. Lack of clean, accessible water does not solely impact human health and security, it impacts every aspect of daily life.

When asked about the importance of water in Quiltepec, Elena did not hesitate to say, “Water is extremely vital. Both for dogs and for humans. Water is something we cannot live without. Water is life; because without water, we simply could not exist. No one could survive; not plants, not animals, not humans. No one. We can live without electricity, without gas, but we simply cannot live without water.”

She paused for a moment before adding with profound insight and understanding:

“Without water, we could not have them. We could not have dogs.”

Rainwater harvesting, therefore, offers not only a sustainable and equitable avenue towards human flourishing, but also a support for the many companions so often consigned to oblivion. Although these systems are, and should continue to be, implemented with community and human necessities in mind, rainwater harvesting’s impacts extend far beyond an anthropocentric lens.

When clean, reliable water becomes available to communities, interpersonal and broader social structures improve. Emotional and physical health stabilizes. Productivity outcomes thrive. And, importantly, animals also gain access to the foundation of life. Moreover, harvested water transitions from not merely a biological tool but also a sustainable and bonding tool for a broader ecosystem. Access to water allows for the integration of shared, all-encompassing dignity; showing the interdependence and interrelational dynamics between humans and their four-legged shadows.

No individual, no community, no ecosystem, can survive in a state of solitude. With this understanding, rainwater harvesting becomes an environmental AND social intervention. It strengthens the belief that no life, whether two-legged or four-legged, genuinely exists in isolation. Every drop of water collected from Isla Urbana’s rainwater harvesting systems has the potential to sustain human life, alongside the broader ecosystems, and socioemotional relationships that are evident in the human-dog bond.

Sources

https://www.who.int/news/item/18-06-2019-1-in-3-people-globally-do-not-have-access-to-safe-drinking-water-unicef-who

https://www.midlifemusings.ca/post/a-dog-s-tale-in-mexico-city

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Water covers 71% of Earth’s surface, yet much of it is polluted or inaccessible. Earth Day is the perfect opportunity to recognize and uplift sustainable solutions that protect and conserve our natural resources—like Rainwater Harvesting (RWH).

As the world faces a looming water deficit—projected by the United Nations to reach 40% by 2030—RWH offers a powerful solution for managing water shortages in the face of climate change. By capturing and utilizing rainwater, these systems reduce reliance on traditional water supplies, minimize environmental impacts, and empower communities with limited or unreliable clean water access.

Climate Change Resilience

RWH provides significant resilience against climate change. According to the World Bank, 41% of Mexico’s territory is exposed to a range of natural disasters, many of which have detrimental effects. As climate change intensifies extreme weather events, in both frequency and severity, rainwater capture has become particularly valuable in regions with uneven rainfall distribution. 

By having water captured and stored, systems build a buffer against scarcity shocks and ensure a steady supply during dry periods. RWH can also mitigate the risk of urban flooding and erosion as it redirects rainwater that would otherwise overwhelm drainage systems, offering further protection to vulnerable areas from climate-related impacts.

Reducing Reliance on Traditional Water Supplies

In Mexico, where approximately 62% of Mexico’s water consumption comes from underground sources, over-extraction has severely depleted many aquifers, exacerbating long-term water scarcity. With RWH systems, communities alleviate pressure on groundwater and reduce dependence on municipal supplies. Residential systems can provide clean water for up to 12 months in rural areas, and up to 8 months in urban areas. This sustainable, local, and renewable source allows communities to preserve resources for themselves and future generations.

Beyond water security, RWH systems help reduce carbon emissions associated with traditional water supply methods—like water trucks. By harvesting water on-site, these systems reduce the need to pump water over long distances, transport it by vehicle, or rely on energy-intensive purification processes. This lowers carbon footprints because less energy means less emissions. 

How Isla Urbana Breaks Down Barriers

One of the main challenges associated with RWH systems is the initial cost of installation and maintenance. For many low-income communities, the upfront investment and technical knowledge required for upkeep can be significant barriers. Like any infrastructure, RWH systems require regular maintenance to ensure long-term functionality.

That’s why Isla Urbana goes beyond just installation—we place community empowerment at the heart of our work, focusing on local capacity building to ensure these sustainable systems deliver lasting community benefits. Through education, hands-on training, and ongoing support, we equip community members with the tools and confidence to maintain and manage their own water systems. 

Our goal is to foster self-sufficient, resilient communities that can independently address their water needs and challenges, reducing reliance on external support while strengthening long-term water security.

The post The Positive Environmental Impact of Rainwater Harvesting appeared first on Isla Urbana USA.

Each year on March 22nd, World Water Day serves as a crucial reminder of our collective responsibility to protect and conserve freshwater. This global holiday celebrates water and raises awareness of global water issues, specifically water scarcity, a core focus of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.

First proposed at the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the first World Water Day was declared on March 22nd, 1993. Since then, this holiday has influenced international policies, encouraged water conservation efforts, and inspired grassroots movements worldwide.

Each year, the UN assigns a theme for World Water Day to highlight specific water-related challenges. In 2023, it was Accelerating Change, in 2024 it was Leveraging Water for Peace, and this year, the theme is Glacier Preservation.

The Importance of Glacier Preservation

As we celebrate this amazing day, it is important to recognize that nearly 2 billion people worldwide rely on water from glaciers, snowmelt, and mountain run-off. Glaciers are critical to life—their meltwater is essential for drinking water, agriculture, industry, clean energy production and healthy ecosystems.

As global temperatures rise, natural glaciers are melting at an alarming rate. In Switzerland, the Swiss Academy of Sciences reported that the nation’s glaciers have lost 10% of their volume in just two years of extreme heat. This loss has devastating effects, particularly for communities in arid, high-altitude regions, like Ladakh, a dry, high-altitude mountain desert on the edge of the Himalayas.

In the Ladakh region, 80% of farmers rely on glaciers for irrigation, making them an essential resource, as agriculture is the region’s primary livelihood. As glaciers shrink and move higher up the mountains, their meltwater arrives later in the year, starting in mid-June. However, farmers need water earlier, in April and May, for planting. Since winters are long, much of the unused meltwater simply flows into rivers. But, there is a solution: Artificial Glaciers.

Artificial Glaciers: A Climate Adaptation Strategy

Artificial glaciers are human-made ice structures designed to store water for communities reliant on glacial meltwater. They are created by capturing excess water from melting glaciers or snow and allowing it to freeze into large blocks of ice. These structures store fresh water during the winter and release it gradually during warmer months, mimicking the function of natural glaciers.

Ice stupas, a more advanced version of artificial glaciers, improve upon this by providing security in areas susceptible to flash floods, landslides, erosion and sedimentation. Ice stupas divert water from streams or rivers through gravity-fed pipes into shaded areas where it freezes on contact, forming towering ice structures that preserve water longer due to reduced sun exposure.

These structures counter water shortages by providing a steady water supply for communities, preventing farmers from facing declining crop production during dry periods.

Isla Urbana’s Contribution to World Water Day

Much like artificial glaciers, rainwater harvesting is an innovative and effective solution for water conservation. By capturing and storing rainwater, our systems ensure a sustainable, clean, and reliable water supply—addressing critical needs and enhancing resilience in vulnerable communities facing water insecurity. 

At Isla Urbana, we are proud to contribute to World Water Day by providing rainwater harvesting systems that transform each rainfall into a vital resource. Each drop of rain brings a new opportunity to harness nature’s most reliable resource. Too often, rainwater goes untapped, and our systems provide a vital supply to those who need it most.  

Water is a fundamental human right, and by providing these life-changing systems, Isla Urbana is committed to building a future where clean water is accessible to all.

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