Caracas , Venezuela ( CNN ) -- Residents of the Venezuelan capital on Monday began to experience water rationing as part of a government preservation measure during a drought . The rolling cuts to water service will affect the capital of Caracas and some nearby areas for periods of up to 48 hours , the state-owned water utility Hidrocapital announced . The rationing will continue through the first quarter of 2010 , the government said . President Hugo Chavez has urged citizens to take extra steps to reduce water use , including a suggestion last week that taking a shower should take only three minutes . The government says that weather phenomena are behind the drought , while critics of Chavez say that years of lack of infrastructure investment and planning left the country flat-footed when it came to offsetting the drought . Drought conditions have reduced reservoir volume to critical levels , officials say . The level of the Camatagua Reservoir , which supplies Caracas with about half of its water , has been on a downward trend since 2007 , according to data from Hidrocapital . However , it 's not as low as during the early 2000s . Some water-rationing measures were taken at the time , too , according to Hidrocapital . In Miranda State , which sits adjacent the capital , the Lagartijo Reservoir is at the lowest level ever recorded . `` There will be programmed interruptions in service , with the goal of recuperating the levels of the principal reservoirs that flow to the city and that were affected by the scarce rains this year , '' Hidrocapital President Alejandro Hitcher said at a news conference announcing the rationing . Even schools will have to deal with the water shortages , the government said . Only hospitals will be equipped with water around the clock . Critics , including the municipal agency that distributes Hidrocapital 's water to the city , say that poor infrastructure has made it difficult for water pressure to reach some of the poorest parts of the city , according to local reports . The government says that the El Nino phenomenon -- unusually warm waters in the equatorial Pacific that affects weather around the globe -- is behind the dry conditions . Venezuela 's National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology also pointed a finger at something called quasi-biennial oscillation , which affects winds in the stratosphere . `` This other phenomenon , '' the institute said in a statement , `` has a relationship with the rains , and is capable of modifying or changing the magnitude and impacts of the effects that El Nino has brought . '' Journalist Maria Carolina Gonzalez contributed to this report for CNN .
Rolling cuts to water service will affect Caracas , nearby areas for up to 48 hours . Drought conditions have reduced reservoir volume to critical levels , officials say . Comment: