The capital was built on a lake and has more rain than London. But the supply system is so decrepit that homes are going dry for weeks and residents fear for the future
By day, Alejandro Flores lives in paradise. For the last 30 years, he has punted tourists around the verdant canals of Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City, where willows, camphor and a bright pink flower that looks like a bougainvillea evoke a subtropical Venice, complete with gondoliers.
But when Flores goes home at night, to his house in the city’s fast-expanding urban sprawl, more often than not, he turns on the tap and nothing comes out.
