The mayor of Colombia's capital on Monday announced new measures to reduce water consumption in the city of eight million people, where a drought associated with the El Niño weather pattern has already prompted officials to ration¹ water in most neighborhoods and ask residents to change their showering habits.



In a statement aired by local media, Bogotá's Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said homes that use more than 22 cubic meters of water per month will have to pay additional fees. He also threatened to impose fines of up to $300 on people who wash their cars on the streets or conduct other activities that are deemed to be a waste of water.



The mayor said that city buses, which are usually washed every day, will now only be washed once per week. For public health reasons, the insides of the buses will still need to be cleaned on a daily basis.

Water rationing² is rare in Bogotá, a city that is located in a humid patch of the northern Andes Mountains and is surrounded by cloud forests and emerald green fields.

Faced with this situation, officials in Bogotá last week rolled out a water rationing system that divides the city into nine zones. Each zone is cut off from the water supply for 24 hours, on a rotating basis.