Colombia Decrees Public Holiday for Civil Servants to Save Energy

Colombia has declared tomorrow, Friday, April 19, a holiday for public sector employees. This measure aims to conserve electricity and water amid a shortage caused by a lack of rainfall. For the past week, the capital, Bogota, has implemented 24-hour rotational water rationing to manage the crisis.

The Colombian government confirmed this morning that there is currently no immediate threat to the energy supply. Precautionary steps are being taken to prevent potential blackouts. The President announced these measures during his address at the 73rd Anniversary of the General Command of the Military Forces.

“Turn Off the Tap and Turn Off the Light” to save energy

Under the name “Turn off the tap and turn off the light”, Colombia is experiencing a campaign to raise awareness of the delicate situation the country is going through, due to the low level of reservoirs in practically the whole country. Although the situation is more serious in the Andean zone, Bogota, and surroundings, it is not much better in other regions that suffered an El Niño phenomenon with an anomalous drought since last November.

“We want to decree a civic day (holiday) in Colombia so that people do not use electricity as much as possible, so that we can save energy that we need in the coming days, and, above all, so that people reduce as much as possible the consumption of drinking water in big cities. Not so that people do not drink water, but so that we drink it in a different place than where there is water stress”, said the president in an event this afternoon.

During his speech, President Petro assured that the water emergency that Bogota, the Sabana surrounding the capital, and other areas of the country are experiencing “is a consequence of the climate crisis, and we are seeing it every day.”.

“If it does not rain soon, we will have increasingly serious problems. If we do not overcome the situation well, the climate crisis is setting a course for the future, and it will get worse and worse unless we overcome it,” he added.