Mérida’s Water Crisis: 35% Lost in Aging Pipes

Mérida, Yucatán — While thousands of users regularize their debts and contribute fresh resources to the potable water system, a significant portion of the vital liquid continues to be lost beneath the streets of Mérida and its metropolitan area due to an aging hydraulic network with decades of backlog and a high level of deterioration. The Yucatán Potable Water and Sewerage Board (Japay) itself acknowledges that it faces infrastructure that has already exceeded its useful life.

According to the head of the agency, approximately 35 percent of the more than 30,000 kilometers of distribution lines have leaks. This is a problem accumulated over more than half a century, stemming from the wear of pipes over 50 years old and roadways that also show severe signs of deterioration, complicating the timely attention to failures.

Thus recognizing the lack of maintenance of the hydraulic infrastructure where leaks grow day by day, “The problem is so old that sometimes it’s not known what came first, the leak or the pothole,” admitted the official. Nevertheless, the lack of comprehensive renewal of the network continues to transfer the cost of the backlog to citizens, who face service interruptions and damaged streets.

This scenario is compounded by the complexity of the Yucatecan subsoil, which is karstic and highly permeable, allowing large volumes of water to filter through without surfacing. These “invisible leaks” hinder their detection and prolong the waste of the resource. The problem is amplified considering that Japay serves not only Mérida but its entire metropolitan area.

Although the collection of resources strengthens Japay’s finances, the underlying challenge persists: the need for sustained, long-term investment to renew a network that loses more than one-third of the water it transports.

According to the agency, the resources obtained from citizen payments will be allocated to maintenance, improvement projects, and daily leak attention; however, specialists warn that without a comprehensive modernization strategy, the historical backlog will continue to translate into waste, recurrent failures, and insufficient service for the growing urban demand.