The water has been turned off for three days for over half a million people in Mexico City to allow the city’s water utility to repair 70-year-old water lines.

Pipes went dry at midnight last night in 52 neighborhoods of the central and eastern boroughs of Coyoacán, Iztapalapa and Tláhuac, as the Mexico City water department, Sacmex, started the repairs at the Tulyehualco aqueduct.

The work is scheduled to be completed on Thursday.

The city has announced that a fleet of 780 tanker trucks will distribute water to the affected households, and that funds have been allocated to allow local borough administrations to cover the cost.

Sacmex director Rafael Bernardo Carmona Paredes explained that the repairs at Tulyehualco are the beginning of maintenance work to repair aging water lines that have deteriorated and started to leak.

Source: El Universal (sp)