Water Management in Mexico City Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Mexico City Metropolitan Area has 20 million inhabitants, with population densities in some areas exceeding 13 500 persons/km². The provision of water supplies and sanitation services in an efficient, equitable and timely manner presents a formidable management and investment challenges, which simply cannot be met under the existing conditions. The current approach has been almost exclusively on supply management: demand management practices have received inadequate attention. Unless the current management practices change radically, future solutions will require higher investment costs to transport more water from increasingly distant and expensive sources, with serious adverse economic, social and environmental impacts on the exporting regions and higher land subsidence rates in ZMCM due to ever-increasing groundwater withdrawals, among many others factors. It is essential to formulate a long-term integrated management plan, which does not exist at present, and which considers linkages to policies on urban development (an issue basically ignored thus far), migration, industry, energy, public health and environment. It is not an easy task, but, nevertheless, it is an essential one.

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the support of Dr Germán Martínez-Santoyo, Director General of the Water System of Mexico City (Sistema de Aguas de la Ciudad de México) for the preparation of the paper. Dr Juan Manuel Anguiano-Lozada, Head, Deep Sewerage, Water System of Mexico City, and Dr Nancy Contreras-Moreno, Professor, National Autonomous University of Mexico, provided invaluable support and insightful comments on this paper. The support of Dr Yosu Rodríguez-Aldabe, Advisor to the Director General, CentroGEO ‘Ing. Jorge L. Tamayo’, National Research Council for Science and Technology, is also acknowledged. CentroGEO prepared several figures specifically for this analysis.

This paper is based on a much longer version that was prepared for 2006 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme.

Notes

1. This section is based mainly on information from National Population Council, Demographic and Urban Scenarios of the Metropolitan Area, Mexico, 2000.

2. The Law of Urban Development of Federal District was published on the Official Magazine of Federal District (Gaceta Oficial del Distrito Federal) on 29 January 1996; and on the Official Newspaper of the Country (Diario Oficial de la Federación) on 7 February 1996. It has been modified three times: on 23 February 1999 and published on Gaceta Oficial del Distrito Federal. No. 25; on 29 January 2004, published on Gaceta Oficial del Distrito Federal No. 8-TER, and on 29 January 2004, published on Gaceta Oficial del Distrito Federal No. 8-TER.

3. Figures include only the municipalities of the State of Mexico where information was available.