Water Management In Mexico Research Articles

Water-power: underground water management in Mexico, and its forgotten transboundary dimension, 1948-2018 (in Spanish)

Water-power: underground water management in Mexico, and its forgotten transboundary dimension, 1948-2018 (in Spanish)

Effects of Hillslope Trenching on Surface Water Infiltration in Subalpine Forested Catchments

Concerns over freshwater scarcity for agriculture, ecosystems, and human consumption are driving the construction of infiltration trenches in many mountain protected areas. This study examines the effectiveness of infiltration trenches in a subalpine forested catchment in central Mexico, where public and private organizations have been constructing trenches for ~60 years. We rely on empirical data to develop rainfall-runoff models for two scenarios: a baseline (no trenches) and a trenched scenario. Field measurements of infiltration capacities in forested and trenched soils (n = 56) and two years of meteorological data are integrated into a semi-distributed runoff model of 28 trenched sub-catchments. Sensitivity analysis and hydrographs are used to evaluate differences in total runoff and infiltration between the two scenarios. Multiple logistic regression is used to evaluate the effects of environmental and management variables on the likelihood of runoff response and trench overtopping. The findings show that soil infiltration capacity and rainfall intensity are primary drivers of runoff and trench overtopping. However, trenches provided only a 1.2% increase in total infiltration over the two-year period. This marginal benefit is discussed in relation to the potential adverse environmental impacts of trench construction. Overall, our study finds that as a means of runoff harvesting in these forested catchments, trenches provide negligible infiltration benefits. As a result, this study cautions against further construction of infiltration trenches in forested catchments without careful ex ante assessment of rainfall-runoff relationships. The results of this study have important implications for forest water management in Mexico and elsewhere, where similar earthworks are employed to enhance runoff harvesting and surface water infiltration.

Neoliberal corporatization in water management in Mexico. Lessons from Leon, Guanajuato

En México los prestadores de los servicios públicos de agua potable y saneamiento a nivel municipal cuentan con el sustento legal para definir el esquema de gestión con el que asumirán la provisión. Desde los ochenta, del siglo pasado, estos modelos se han concentrado en públicos, privados y mixtos, estos últimos influenciados por la ola neoliberal. El presente documento tiene por objetivo explorar el modelo de corporatización del agua para el caso mexicano, es decir, empresa pública con comportamiento privado, tomando como unidad de análisis el Sistema de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de León (SAPAL), Guanajuato. Bajo los enfoques de corporatización del agua y ambientalismo de mercado, y con una metodología mixta, revisión hemerográfica y una exploración descriptiva-relacional de la información físico-comercial del organismo operador, se determina una gestión corporatizada del agua de tipo neoliberal por parte del SAPAL. Se concluye que esta modalidad ha sido deliberadamente construida, enfocada en la expansión del mercado y la acumulación de capital, esto a pesar de que su carácter público la vincula con el bienestar social enmarcado por el derecho humano al agua.

Fundamentos, obstáculos y retos de la participación pública en la gestión del agua en México

In the last three decades, Mexican water management policy has been reformed to include the participation of social actors in the decision-making process. Nonetheless, water governance receives intense criticism from those who consider that this participatory approach has decreased the efficiency in decision-making and others who believe that public participation is not efficiently included. To clarify this debate, we identify the fundamentals, the obstacles, and the challenges of the public involvement in water management through a systematic review of the literature. We found that the restrictions of such involvement are most likely associated with: 1) characteristics and context of the participants; 2) different levels of information and power; 3) institutional arrangement and rules of the process; 4) the lack of resources to participate, and 5) the lack of motivation and political will. The most critical challenges are: a) decentralization; b) the combination of technical and non-technical knowledge; c) the strengthening of capacities for participation, and d) the influence of the government in the decision-making process. With these elements, we elaborate an analytical framework and come up with the recommendations to improve public participation in water management in Mexico.

Decentralization, consolidation, and crisis of urban water management in Mexico

En Mexico se ha llevado a cabo un proceso de descentralizacion de los servicios de agua potable, mismo que se considera llego a su consolidacion una vez que se estabilizo la transferencia de responsabilidad de las esferas federal y estatal a la municipal. El objetivo del presente articulo es describir como se llevo a cabo dicha transicion hasta su consolidacion y posterior crisis. Lo anterior se reflexiona a la luz de los principales indicadores de gestion de los organismos operadores de agua.

A tale of Mexico's most exploited—and connected—watersheds: the Basin of Mexico and the Lerma‐Chapala Basin

Water management policies and their impacts for both the Basin of Mexico and the Lerma‐Chapala basin—where nearly 25% of Mexico's inhabitants are found—are described. This work shows that the prevailing water management policy has been the augmentation of water supply and neither policies have focused on water savings nor management of water demand. The effects of the large extraction rates on both basins have caused drying‐up of streams due to drawdown rates that reach 2.5 m/year with an associated land subsidence in different cities in these basins. Water management in Mexico needs to change from a water supply approach to a water efficiency approach, where water needs to be efficiently used. Water management will only improve when policies consider both technical and social perspectives. WIREs Water 2018, 5:e1247. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1247This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Rights to Water Science of Water > Water Extremes

Human and ecotoxicological impacts assessment from the Mexican oil industry in the Coatzacoalcos region, as revealed by the USEtox model.

Human and ecotoxicological impacts were analyzed in the lower basin of the Coatzacoalcos River (Veracruz, State in Mexico). High pollution levels of contaminants from the oil industry have been reported in natural streams and the Coatzacoalcos River and in their sediments. USEtox model was employed to evaluate environmental fate, exposure, and effect of nine organic compounds (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and one of which was in the group of polychlorinated biphenyls), a heavy metal (lead), and the effect of the industrial wastewater emitted into the river, on the Coatzacoalcos region. Most of these compounds are highly toxic; they bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue, mainly in the fatty tissues and can damage different organs and systemic targets such as the liver, kidney, hormonal system, nervous system, etc., of both humans and wildlife. The model estimates that 96% (3,247 kg/day) of organic compounds is transferred from the water into air, whereas only 4% (151 kg/day) remains in the water. In addition, it predicts that humans are mainly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) congeners (28 and 153) by eating contaminated fish, due to PCBs accumulating in the fish fat tissue. The number of cases of cancer and noncancer (1 in 862 habitants per additional kilogram) is expected to have an increment due to the higher PCBs exposure of human population. Genetic damages in fishes, earthworms, and toads have been observed and related to higher exposure to organic compounds. The relationship between the field reported data and those one predicted by the USEtox model have been confirmed empirically by using the nonparametric correlation analysis (Spearman's rho). Based on the USEtox model, the environmental stress in the Coatzacoalcos industrial zone is between 2 and 6 orders of magnitude over geometric mean of acute aquatic EC₅₀s. We think that USEtox model can be used to expand the number of substances that have the current water quality guidelines to improve the water management in Mexico.

Evolution of Water Management in Mexico

The recognition of the need for an integrated and humane management of water resources has been gradually developed as a result of several major international conferences and forums. These, together with the World Water Vision, have reinforced the need for a comprehensive assessment of global freshwater resources as a basis for implementing a more integrated management of water. The recommendations suggested in the meetings and international forums have undoubtedly helped the development of water resources management in Mexico. In general, however, to implement them effectively and efficiently, it is necessary to develop financial mechanisms available to the payment capacity of each country and establish reasonable deadlines for meeting the goals. This paper analyses the impact of the recommendations arising from international meetings on water management in Mexico as well as their compliance in terms of water and wastewater management.

Using spatial information systems to improve water management in Mexico

In the last two decades, Mexican irrigated agriculture has faced large changes as a result of recurrent droughts and the transfer of irrigation management from the federal government to Water User Associations (WUA). The associations face a great challenge in the efficient operation of water distribution networks and use of water. Under water scarcity conditions, new irrigation management strategies must be implemented to estimate irrigation requirements at field scale and integrate them into several operating levels of the irrigation network. A computer tool, Spriter, was developed and transferred to several WUA of Mexican irrigation districts. The system allows the dynamic generation of digital map reports, as mapping of physical features of fields is linked to the main database. Software applications are presented to illustrate the advantages of using spatial information technologies to improve water management in large irrigation districts.

The contradictions of urban water management in Mexico

In spite of a long history of institutional reforms, Mexico still cannot assure adequate water services to its population and its aquifers and ecosystems are being degraded. Although decentralization is a principal theme of administrative reform, the National Water Commission (CNA) remains a powerful semi-autonomous organization charged with the oversight and control of local water agencies. Local urban water administrations are under intense pressure to change their management structures to ...

Guadalajara’s water crisis and the fate of Lake Chapala: a reflection of poor water management in Mexico

This paper describes the water crisis faced by the city of Guadalajara with the drying up of its main source of water, Lake Chapala. This drying up of Mexico’s largest lake will cause far-reaching economic and ecological consequences for the extended region. The paper also examines the underlying causes, which are centred on the inadequate and unsustainable management of the Lerma- Chapala river basin (that extends over five states). It looks at the innovative, although as yet insufficient, institutional response towards integrated sustainable water management in Mexico, which centres on a shift from centralized water management at the federal level to a multi-stakeholder and participative system based in river basins, and reflects on the current challenges posed.

Guadalajara's water crisis and the fate of Lake Chapala: a reflection of poor water management in Mexico

Guadalajara's water crisis and the fate of Lake Chapala: a reflection of poor water management in Mexico

Legal and Regulatory Regime for Water Management in Mexico and its Possible Use in Other Latin American Countries

The present paper analyses objectively the current experiences of Mexico in using legal and regulatory measures to manage its water resources on a long-term, sustainable basis. The strengths and weaknesses of the Mexican system should be carefully considered before other Latin American countries formulate their own individual programmes specifically. Unless this is done, non-critical transfer of knowledge and experience would undoubtedly create numerous problems in the recipient countries in the coming decades.

Water Supply and Wastewater Management in Mexico: An Analysis of the Environmental Policies

The problems related to water management in Mexico have become very complex. A continuously increasing population, rapid urbanization, lack of clean water, inadequate sanitation and wastewater treatment, inefficient management at all levels, a near-total emphasis only on technical aspects of supply management, and radical changes in management every six years, have made efficient and sustainable water management a most difficult, if not impossible, task. Economic, social, environmental and institutional aspects of management are continuing to receive inadequate attention. Mexican water resources policy is oriented towards ensuring the availability of water to satisfy the needs of the population and promote the development of economic activities in a manner that is environmentally compatible and sustainable in each region of the country. While conceptually this policy is sound, its implementation leaves much to be desired. Legal and institutional frameworks in Mexico for environmental aspects of water management are relatively new. A major problem arises due to the lack of congruency among the various water laws. Both the legal and the institutional frameworks on environmental policies need to be modified, along with stronger coordination among the different institutions concerned. Institutionally, the various environmental activities within the National Water Commission are highly diffused. So far, there has been no serious attempt to integrate and coordinate these activities, nor is there a comprehensiveenvironmental policy or strategy for the water sector. Approaches used at present for water quality management are ad hoc , and thus leave much to be desired. In addition, the capacities of the institutions for efficient environmental and water quality management are very limited. Unless serious attempts are made to change these shortcomings, Mexico will face very serious problems in the 21st century, the type of which no earlier generation has had to face. Incremental 'business as usual' approaches will no longer be adequate for medium- to long-term sustainable water management.

New strategy in urban water management in Mexico: the case of Mexico's Federal District

This paper focuses on the strategy of Mexico's Federal District to achieve better water management. It highlights some of the main aspects of the current institutional framework. The article starts by providing a general overview of the current state of the water sector in Mexico. An analysis of the new strategies for the provision of water services in Mexico's Federal District is presented as a case study. It exemplifies the type of private sector participation that has recently been adopted in the water sector in Mexico. The article analyzes the functions of agencies involved in water distribution in the Federal District, and discusses the performance of private firms as well as some of the main difficulties encountered. Lessons have been learned from this application. It can be concluded that long‐term commitment on the part of both public and private entities is one of the key factors in achieving a more efficient urban water management. The article reflects plans implemented and approved as of January 1998.

Water Management in Mexico: A Framework

ABSTRACT This article reviews the present framework for water management in Mexico. Efforts are being made to operationalize the concept of sustainable development, through more effective implementation of both institutional and legal practices and policies. Basin councils are being established to ensure that national and regional needs are met. This would contribute to more efficient water quantity and quality, management by explicitly taking care of the needs of the users and the environment.

Integrated Approach to River Basin Management: Lerma-Chapala Case Study—Attributions and Experiences in Water Management in Mexico

ABSTRACT Mexico's development has been tightly linked with water From the 1917 Political Constitution, where water was declared to be of national proprietorship, several federal laws have been enacted to promote development and regulate water use. Changes provoked by urban and industrial growth have influenced water quality and availability, making today's water management a task beyond government, where all actors in society must play a role. In this framework River Basin Councils are an open and plural forum, in which f ederal, state, and municipal governments, water users, and society participate in water management. The first River Basin Council created in Mexico as an answer to water scarcity and pollution was Lerma-Chapala, in a populated, urban-rural river basin. To this day, this river basin organism is a successful venture with considerable advances in water allocation and treatment facilities, made possible by means of a regional spirit of responsibility and solidarity to solve a complex water agenda of priorities. Mexico has assumed a commitment to implement at least thirteen River Basin Councils throughout the country. They will form a valuable asset to successfully cope with future challenges in the water sector

Toward MoreEfficient Urban Water Management in Mexico

ABSTRACT This article describes the efforts of the Mexican government toward more efficient management of water resources. Inaccordance with the Mexican Constitution, municipal governments have been responsible for urban water and sanitation services. However; in practice most municipalities have weak finances and little expertise in managing water systems and the federal government still plays an important role in the management and financing of water infrastructure. The article highlights the current state of the water sector in Mexico, including some of the main aspects of the legal and institutionalframework. It discusses the main difficulties faced by the municipalities in accomplishing their task. The strategy of the federal government, in order to achieve better urban water management, has focused on four main policies: changes in the legal and institutional framework for water management, further decentralization, new financing schemes, and greater private sector involvement. It concludes that flexible approaches should allow municipalities to find appropriate institutional, financial, and technical solutions.