Country: MEXICO
School / organization: INSTITUTO ESCUELA DEL SUR
Delegation leader/ teacher: Huitzilihuitl Moctezuma Mendoza
Students: Andrea Cisneros Guadarrama, Mariana Pérez BuendÃa, Derek Portugal Vela Morales, Christian Vargas Tena
Partner organization: ISLA URBANA
Project title: RAINWATER RECOLLECTION AT SCHOOL
Currently, the water system in Mexico City is both deficient and unsustainable. It is 70% formed by the aquifer mantle and 29% by the Lerma-Cutzamala system, then 1% by springs. The system requires great energy and economic investment due to the complicated route that water follows to reach the city: it has to ascend more 1000 m, great losses of the liquid are due to leaky pipes, besides unequal access in areas that do not have piped water or only once every so often. Floods and subsidence derived from a surplus water and over-exploitation of the aquifer, add up to the problem of distribution.
It is necessary to rethink the water system of Mexico City keeping sustainability as principle, to reduce energy consumption and support local water projects, such as water catchment systems are implemented. Rainwater collection systems allow to reduce the excess of water in the hydrous network; improving its access, taking advantage of the rain that ended before in the drainage, solving the floods and subsidence. For this reason, the Rainwater Collection Project of the Instituto Escuela will be implemented to be an example for water sustainability both in schools and in the city, so it can be emulated elsewhere.