The average expected rainfall for October and November in Colombia will have reduced by 30% as El Niño begins to be strongly felt throughout the country, authorities say.
Ricardo Lozano, Director of Colombian Environtmental Institute IDEAM, stated in a recent report that the rainfall deficit for September was very close to 50% and that the departments to suffer at the hands of the weather phenomenon patterns are Valle, Cauca, Tolima, Nariño, Huila and the Andes – with worst risk area being the Caribbean coastline.
The Deputy Minister for Water and Drainage issued advice to all Colombian departments and municipalities to adopt contigency plans in order to cope with the fierce summer that is predicted, reported news station Caracol on Tuesday.
The Deputy Minister revealed that this past weekend in several regions there were problems regarding supplies of drinking water and she also asserted that around 700 municipalities across the country do not have an alternative program for aquiring water in the event of serious shortage.
Caracol was informed that El Niño is continuing to affect reservoir levels in Colombia. At present, water reserves stand at over 65% of their capacity and this percentage has dropped over the last few days.