1 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:08,880 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Game Changers. I'm Matt Goldman. As 2 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:13,039 Speaker 1: the Earth is facing an increasingly consequential climate crisis, inquisitive 3 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: minds all over the globe are hard at work trying 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: to find solutions, and many of them have been able 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: to translate their Eureka moments into action at a greater 6 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:24,920 Speaker 1: pace than scope than sometimes gloomy headlines might have us think. 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: In this four part mini series, will meet the visionary 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: minds who attempt to sculpt the future of sustainable energy 9 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,560 Speaker 1: and global resources. Will get a peek behind the curtains 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: of their factory floors here of the sometimes surprising origins 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: of their ideas, and be introduced to a potentially greener tomorrow. 12 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: In this episode, water Harvesting. The Mexico City metropolitan area, 13 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: home to twenty two million people, is densely populated and 14 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: heavily traffic A visitor walking on its bustling streets might 15 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: be surprised to learn what lies underneath it. We are 16 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: not in a vali, We're actually in a basin. That's 17 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: Dr Manuel parallel Cohen, a full time researcher at the 18 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: Institute of Social Investigations at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. 19 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: We are on the top of lakes, but we don't 20 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: see those lakes. This is also a basin where many 21 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: rivers flow into the lower parts of the city, and 22 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: you could see those rivers. Nowadays you see only highways 23 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: with the name of those rivers. Founded in the fourteenth century, 24 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 1: then known as Tenochtitland, Mexico City was initially built on 25 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 1: a tiny island in the Valley of Mexico. Over the 26 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: course of the last four hundred years, the city focused 27 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: on draining the water as it was expanding its borders, 28 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: and it's been efficient. Where once there was a lake 29 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: now stands one of the vastest cities in the world. 30 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,359 Speaker 1: But this doesn't mean the city is all dry. Mexico 31 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 1: City gets more rain yearly than the notoriously wet London, 32 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: and beneath its streets you'll find enormous aquifers. We have 33 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: around eighteen hundred deep whales that provide that water, and 34 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: we import also water from distant basis. So you have 35 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: to realize that we have the largest water infrastructure, perhaps 36 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:41,079 Speaker 1: in the world, both to prevent the city from floods, 37 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: but at the same time to provide water to those 38 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: twenty two point five million inhabitants. Knowing this, it might 39 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: seem paradoxical that Mexico City in many ways is lacking water. 40 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: Those aquifers have been over exploited over the years. We 41 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: which means that we take more water than the one 42 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:11,639 Speaker 1: that percolates into those aquifers. They are not imbalanced. We 43 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:19,679 Speaker 1: draw too much water from them. A crumbling infrastructure isn't 44 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: making things easier about. The water produced by the system 45 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: is lost through leaks. All this combined has led to 46 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: a crisis in this naturally water abundant area. Mexico City 47 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: is one of the top ten cities in the world 48 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: at risk of running out of water. There are at 49 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: least one million people in Mexico City who live in 50 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: areas that are that are not suited for infrastructure, so 51 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: it's very difficult to bring the water through the bipelines. 52 00:03:54,920 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: It's it's almost impossible. That's only in Mexico City. I'm 53 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: not talking about Mexico Cities metropolitan area. And those people 54 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: who are most hurt are the people who live in 55 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,919 Speaker 1: the worst conditions, the poor people, because they live in 56 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: the worst located places. On the one hand, but on 57 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: the other hand, poor people really don't have places where 58 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: to store water. You know, living without water is something 59 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: that if you've never actually experienced, it's hard to imagine 60 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: not and it dominates your life. This is in Reque. 61 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: Lomnitz one of the co founders and general director of 62 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: Isla Urbana, a project dedicated to developing water sustainability in 63 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: Mexico City. So, especially low income parts of Mexico City, 64 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: peripheral parts of Mexico City and the people that live 65 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: around it are now facing a situation where they open 66 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,839 Speaker 1: the top and no water comes out or brown water 67 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: comes out for a few seconds. So if you live 68 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: in a house that doesn't get water or gets water 69 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: just once every you know, one or two weeks, water 70 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,839 Speaker 1: starts becoming this really central dynamic that takes over almost 71 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: all of the house now, So everybody is very very 72 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: attentive to when there's water. So if there's water in 73 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: the good for a moment, everybody runs out and tries 74 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: to fill up all of the buckets and containers that 75 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,679 Speaker 1: they possibly can so that they can kind of hold 76 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: over for however long they need to until they get 77 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: water again, which they never know when there's gonna be 78 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 1: water again. You know, about ten years ago in Regue 79 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: and one of its co founders, both industrial designers, were 80 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: discussing ways to support sustainability issues in the low income 81 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: parts of Mexico City, with no clear ideas in mind. 82 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,239 Speaker 1: They started interviewing people about their everyday lives and water 83 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: started coming up over and over and over again. People 84 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: just started telling us about out water, and they start 85 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 1: telling us about how their water situation was getting worse 86 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,039 Speaker 1: and worse. They started telling us how they, you know, 87 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: they used to get water out of the grid maybe 88 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: two three times a week. Now they're getting water one 89 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 1: day every two weeks. How they never used to buy 90 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: water trucks, now they're buying several water trucks a year. 91 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: The water trucks are an attempt to put a band 92 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: aid on the wound. The government subsidizes water trucks for 93 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: low income places. So maybe you have to go to 94 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: like a government agency order a water truck, and but 95 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: they'll tell you, you know, you'll get your water truck 96 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: in two to four weeks, for example, and no idea 97 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,280 Speaker 1: when so a lot of houses actually have to have 98 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: somebody at home all the time in case the water 99 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:40,359 Speaker 1: truck shows up. So that they can receive it not 100 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,480 Speaker 1: because if not they don't, they lose. They lose the 101 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: water truck and their place in the line. Enrique and 102 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,040 Speaker 1: his colleagues zeroed in on an idea. Instead of getting 103 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: water by truck or from below, how about looking to 104 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: the sky. There's nothing new about rainwater harvesting, and people 105 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: have been harvesting rainwater since they first kind of like 106 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: open their mouths and looked up at the sky. At 107 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: the same time, notice that there's rainwater harvesting systems that 108 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: are six thousand years old throughout the world. But um, 109 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: but I don't think anyone had really taken the challenge 110 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: of how do we get a modern, massive metropolis to 111 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: start harvesting rainwater on a massive scale. The team built 112 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: their first rainwater harvesting system, a simple and cheap arrangement 113 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: made up of a big plastic water tank installed on 114 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: the ground level, gutters, some pipes, and a filter hooked 115 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: up on the roof. One of the women they had 116 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: interviewed agreed to try it out. And this woman, who 117 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: I think is very scientifically minded, Uh, shut off the 118 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: city grid, the water, the city water connection. She said, 119 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: let's see how we do just with rainwater. Not even 120 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: the East lat Urbana team expected the outcome. And they 121 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: went eight months, eight continuous months before they had to 122 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: open up the city grid again. So they did eight 123 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: continuous months of full autonomy just on rainwater. And that 124 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: was like a that blew up in my mind and 125 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: and and this my co founder Renata, who I was 126 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:06,679 Speaker 1: working with it it kind of blew our minds. We're like, okay, 127 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: this is this is really good, Like this really works 128 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: beyond what we kind of had imagined. The team rented 129 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: a room across the street from the first installment and 130 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: proceeded to organize community meetings. A bunch of the neighbors 131 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: started like joining in kind of none. We started installing 132 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:27,119 Speaker 1: rainwater harvesting systems with our neighbors little by little, and 133 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: you know, it was a very want at a time, 134 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: very retail kind of community activism kind of work, talking 135 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: to communities about rainwater harvesting and and people you know, 136 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: like agreeing to experiments. So we start experimenting with different 137 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: rainwater harvesting systems, and um we started putting up more 138 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: and more and more of these systems in the area. 139 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: As the word spread, the local government got in touch 140 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: and they came back and they said, um, could you 141 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: please write us a quote for five rainwater harvesting systems. 142 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: And this was the first time anybody had asked us 143 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: for like a quote, and so we like, we're very excited, 144 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: and we wrote a very um a very like low budget. 145 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: You know, we just wanted them to to to accept 146 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: the quote now. So we wrote this quote for five systems, 147 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: and they came back and they said, okay, we want 148 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 1: five hundreds of these systems. And so we were like terrified, 149 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: no and very excited, but also like, okay, how do 150 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: we do this? And that was this huge quantum kind 151 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 1: of step for us, and we installed. We ended up 152 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: installing close to a thousand rainwater harvesting systems, working directly 153 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: with this local administration. By now, a decade after installing 154 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,680 Speaker 1: the first unit, East La Urbana are working directly with 155 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: the government of Mexico City, installing almost sixties systems a 156 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: day throughout the metropolitan area, over twenty thousand or out there, 157 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: harvesting a total of eight hundred and seven million liters 158 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: of water annually. For the recipients of these units, this 159 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: can be truly life changing. So if you have a 160 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: house that has say a hundred square meter roof stay, 161 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: which would be what um nine square feet or something 162 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: like that. It's not it's not a huge house at all. 163 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: It's the house like that can get up to around 164 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: a hundred thousand liters of water per year, which is 165 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: about twelve water trucks. The problem at that point becomes 166 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: they just don't have enough tanks to store it all. 167 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: Like actually, they'll use as much water as they can store, 168 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: and they'll go the whole rainy season and they'll usually 169 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 1: go five, six, seven, eight months a year. They can 170 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: be water autonomous. Now, it's that depending on the size 171 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: of their roof. And then houses that have bigger tanks. 172 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 1: I mean, there's houses that go all year, and that's 173 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: really what we're after now. No, it's just doing more 174 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 1: and more rainwater harvesting systems and getting entire parts of 175 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,439 Speaker 1: Mexico City to become places where every time it rains, 176 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: just thousands and thousands of rainwater harvesting tanks just fill 177 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: up with water. For his part, Dr Perlo sees new 178 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: models being developed and it makes him optimistic about the future. 179 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: We're not going to be able to return to the 180 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:03,560 Speaker 1: old lake, say stem or the old Teno Stitland, the 181 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: Aztec city in the middle of the lake. That's gone. 182 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:13,120 Speaker 1: But we can have a new water model for the city, 183 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: a model where we keep water, a model where we 184 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,920 Speaker 1: have enough water. We have springs, we have rivers, we 185 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 1: have small lakes, we have hydraulic parks. We have really 186 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: uh world of water. And that's possible. It's not utopia, 187 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: it's not something that comes out of a dream. It 188 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: can be a reality. This episode of Game Changers was 189 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: produced by Magnus Hendrickson and presented by Yours Truly Matt Goldman. 190 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 1: It was based on recording by Tom Gibson. For a 191 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,720 Speaker 1: visual experience of Games Drangers, check out our videos at 192 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,959 Speaker 1: bloomberg dot com slash Green. Francesca Levie is the head 193 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: of Bloomberg Podcasts. See you next time.