Sandra Hernández Vita Flumen
The cracked bed of Presa Santa Catarina, a thin channel of water running through it. On assignment for Reuters, June 2024.

On assignment for Reuters · Querétaro · June 2024

Extreme Drought

Sequía extrema en Querétaro

Documentation of the drought and water shortage in Querétaro, on assignment for Reuters. June 2024.

A month earlier, the governor had declared a state of emergency. According to the April 30 report from Mexico's Drought Monitor, produced by the National Water Commission (Conagua) and the National Meteorological Service (SMN), 75% of the state's 18 municipalities were classified in exceptional drought, the monitor's most severe category, with a further 24.2% in extreme drought and 0.8% in severe drought.

The photographs move across the territory the shortage reshaped: the cracked bed of Presa Santa Catarina in Santa Rosa de Jáuregui, the receding ponds of Parque Querétaro 2000, and the dry ground beneath the residential towers of Centro Sur.

The drought was not felt equally. Where household taps ran dry, people fell back on wells and shared basins, while under the same heat public pools stayed full, scarcity and waste sharing the same territory.

Bare orchard trees along a service road in Parque Querétaro 2000.
A retention pond with a staff gauge marking the water level, the city behind.
Residents wash clothes at communal basins in El Salitre.
A concrete drainage structure with a water-level gauge at Parque Querétaro 2000, standing dry.
Visitors cool off in a public pool at Balneario El Piojito during the heat.
A boat stranded on the dry bed of Presa Santa Catarina.
Water still gathers below a conical hill at Presa Santa Catarina, seen from another point.
A residential tower rises over dry ground in Centro Sur, Querétaro.
The cracked bed of Presa Santa Catarina, a thin channel of water running through it.

Plates

Querétaro, Mexico. June 8 and 9, 2024. REUTERS / Sandra Hernández

  1. 01Presa Santa Catarina, Santa Rosa de Jáuregui, one of the reservoirs that supplies the city.
  2. 02Parque Querétaro 2000, Querétaro.
  3. 03Parque Querétaro 2000.
  4. 04El Salitre, Querétaro. Residents without running water at home wash at communal basins fed by a nearby well.
  5. 05Parque Querétaro 2000.
  6. 06Centro Cultural Balneario El Piojito, La Cañada.
  7. 07Presa Santa Catarina.
  8. 08Presa Santa Catarina.
  9. 09Centro Sur, Querétaro.
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