Prickly pears, avocados and lemons: how rainwater harvesting is feeding Mexico City’s gardens and homes

Ana Aparicio Bahena using harvested rainwater to maintain her vegetable garden at her home in Cristo Rey, Xochimilco, Mexico City. As in many informal settlements in Mexico, Aparicio Bahena’s metal-roofed home is not connected to the water network. Photograph: Suzanne Bearne

Walking up a steep hill to a small informal settlement of about 45 houses in Cristo Rey, above San Gregorio Atlapulco in Mexico City, Ana Aparicio Bahena arrives at her simple home. As she walks through her lush, verdant garden, she points out plants such as the prickly pear, cactus leaves with tiny, hair-like spines, and picks blackberries hanging from a bush, handing them to her two daughters.

“I can grow vegetables,” says Aparicio Bahena proudly, holding up a small onion. “I have avocados, lemons, potatoes … I never used to be able to grow my own food. It’s wonderful.”