Tijuana’s water utility CESPT announced service interruptions across more than 70 neighborhoods this week, with cuts beginning Tuesday and extending through Thursday. The shutoffs are tied to planned maintenance and infrastructure repairs on the city’s aging pipeline network, affecting colonias spread across Tijuana’s eastern, central, and southern zones.
CESPT Has Scheduled Rotating Cuts Since January 2025
CESPT, the Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos de Tijuana, manages water distribution for a city of roughly 1.9 million people. The utility has struggled for years with a system built for a much smaller population. Tijuana’s rapid growth over the past three decades has outpaced investment in water infrastructure, and CESPT has relied on rotating service interruptions as a management tool.
The cuts announced this week follow a pattern that has intensified since early 2025. CESPT published schedules showing that on Tuesday, June 17, service was suspended in colonias including Lomas del Valle, El Florido, and sections of the Otay zone. On Wednesday, June 18, cuts expanded to neighborhoods in the Cerro Colorado area, La Presa, and parts of Playas de Tijuana. Thursday, June 19, brings another round targeting eastern Tijuana colonias near the Alamar canal.
The utility attributed the shutoffs to “programmed maintenance work” on primary and secondary distribution lines. CESPT did not specify which pipes are being repaired or how long each neighborhood would be without service. Restoration times listed on the utility’s schedule ranged from 12 to 24 hours per affected zone.
Tijuana’s water system depends heavily on supply from the Colorado River, delivered through the binational infrastructure that crosses the border at the Morelos Dam. CONAGUA, Mexico’s national water commission, has periodically reduced allocations to Baja California during drought years. While 2025 has not seen the severe shortages of 2022 and 2023, the underlying supply constraints remain. CESPT’s pipelines lose an estimated 40% of treated water to leaks before it reaches households, a figure the utility itself has acknowledged in public reports.
The infrastructure deficit is not new. A 2023 audit by Baja California’s state legislature found that CESPT had deferred maintenance on over 300 kilometers of primary distribution lines. Many of Tijuana’s trunk lines date to the 1980s and 1990s, when the city’s population was less than half its current size. Repairs tend to be reactive rather than preventive, which means scheduled cuts like this week’s often come in clusters as crews move from one failing section to the next.
Affected Neighborhoods Include Areas Popular With Cross-Border Commuters
The 70-plus colonias on this week’s shutoff list span a wide geographic range. Several sit in zones where English-speaking residents and cross-border commuters have concentrated. Playas de Tijuana, listed for Wednesday cuts, is home to a significant community of U.S. citizens who live south of the border. The Otay area, affected Tuesday, borders the Otay Mesa port of entry and houses many workers who cross daily.
El Florido and Lomas del Valle, both on Tuesday’s list, are residential zones in eastern Tijuana that have seen rapid housing development over the past decade. New subdivisions in these areas often connect to the same aging trunk lines that serve older neighborhoods, compounding pressure on the system.
Residents in affected areas should expect low or zero water pressure during the posted hours. CESPT recommends filling storage tanks (tinacos) in advance. Most Tijuana homes are equipped with rooftop tinacos that hold between 450 and 1,100 liters, enough for roughly one to two days of basic household use. Homes without functioning tinacos or with ground-level cisterns (aljibes) that rely on electric pumps may face longer disruptions if power fluctuations accompany the water work.
Bottled water is widely available at OXXO stores and supermarkets throughout the affected zones. Garrafones, the standard 20-liter jugs delivered to homes, can be ordered from local purification plants, though delivery times may increase during widespread shutoffs.
CESPT Warns of Additional Cuts Through Late June
The utility’s posted schedule suggests this week’s cuts are not isolated. CESPT has indicated that maintenance work will continue into late June, with additional neighborhoods likely to appear on future shutoff lists. The utility publishes updated schedules on its official website and social media channels, typically 24 to 48 hours before each round of cuts.
Tijuana’s municipal government has not announced any new capital investment to address the pipeline losses that drive these recurring interruptions. Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda’s administration allocated 180 million pesos (roughly $10 million USD) to CESPT infrastructure projects in the 2025 state budget, but much of that funding is earmarked for wastewater treatment rather than distribution repairs.
The next round of scheduled cuts is expected to be published by CESPT on Friday, June 20, covering the following week. Residents can check CESPT’s website at cespt.gob.mx or call the utility’s service line at 664-623-3500 for updates. This report is based on CESPT’s official maintenance schedule published on June 16, 2025.