Bogota. The Colombian government ordered the suspension of the Friday work day for public officials in order to save water and energy in the midst of the serious drought that the country is going through.
“Tomorrow we want to decree a civic day in Colombia so that people do not use electricity as much as possible (…) and, above all, that water consumption decreases as much as possible,” said the president, Gustavo Petro. , during a public event this Thursday.
The measure implies suspending the working day in the public sector, while “citizens in general and private companies will decide whether to grant this date a non-working day,” the presidency specified on the social network X.
In that same social network, the president asked the eight million inhabitants of Bogotá “to go out this weekend to places in other hydrographic basins to reduce consumption pressure” in the capital, where rationing of the transportation service is already underway. aqueduct by sectors.
Two thirds of the electrical energy that supplies Colombia comes from hydroelectric plants. The prolonged drought associated with the El Niño phenomenon and the heat records that the country has recorded so far this year have the reservoirs on alert, whose level is currently at 28.75 percent, very close to the critical level of 27 percent. , according to XM, the system operating company.
The drought began at the end of last year and has lasted for much of April, one of the rainiest months of the year in this tropical country. The government warned that if rainfall does not arrive soon, national energy rationing will be necessary.
On Monday, Colombia announced that it had suspended energy exports to Ecuador due to the crisis, forcing Quito to declare blackouts of up to 13 hours in some parts of the country.
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– 2024-04-24 00:01:17
