Taps have run dry in Monterrey, Mexico, where there is water for factories but not for residents

MONTERREY, MEXICO — Three months pregnant and queasy with morning sickness, Yasmin Acosta Ruiz pushed a cart laden with buckets of water through the scorching July heat. As she and her 7-year-old son eased the cart over a speed bump, water sloshed onto the pavement. They both winced.

Here on the outskirts of Monterrey, a sprawling industrial city that has become the face of Mexico's water crisis, every drop counts.

Drought has drained the three reservoirs that provide about 60% of the water for the region's 5 million residents. Most homes now receive water for only a few hours each morning. And on the city's periphery, many taps have run completely dry.

Over the last two weeks, water had flowed in Acosta's home just once, for several hours. The rest of the time — to flush the toilet, launder clothing, wash dishes or bathe — Acosta had to haul water by hand from a well in a park half a mile away. It was not potable, so she had to buy bottled water to cook with.

"It's like we've gone back