Managing Water Amid Rapid Urbanization: Mexico’s North Borderlands

Value of river restoration when living near and far. The Atoyac Basinin Puebla, Mexico

“…Regarding water management in urban areas, the service provision is operated by a total of 2 688 water operators registered, mostly public 2019, Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua Open Access bajo la licencia CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncsa/4.0/) entities (INEGI, 2014). Their administration has been strongly criticized because they operate with high physical losses due to leaks in the pipeline and low commercial profitability, which results in an inability to finance improvements in the system and invest the necessary resources to sustainably manage the resource, including the installation of wastewater treatment systems (Pineda-Pablos, Salazar-Adams & Buenfil- Rodríguez, 2010;IMCO, 2014;IMCO, 2014).…”

Improving urban water supply in Mexico: a systematic review

“…Financing issues arise in Mexico because of the rapid growth of the urban population and the fact that many of those who need water are precisely those who are ill-positioned to pay for it: the urban poor (Agnew and Woodhouse 2010). Recent literature clearly is in keeping with the tradition of Pineda-Pablos and Salazar-Adams (2009) who stress the inefficient piping infrastructures of urban Mexico because of poor maintenance. But Agnew and Woodhouse (2010) depart from their peers in that they heavily emphasise the role that poverty and sluggish economic growth play in revitalizing the piping infrastructure.…”

“…However, Mexico’s water infrastructure has deteriorated over the years due to a lack of financial resources for their preservation and improvement, which has meant a drop in the efficiency of water management across the country (National Water Commission, 2015). At present, Mexico’s irrigation is insufficient; as a result of climate change, reduced supply is anticipated, which means that it is essential that the federal government implements strategies designed to improve the country’s piping capabilities (Pineda-Pablos and Salazar-Adams, 2009). According to Downs et al (1999), much of the country’s irrigation is also done using untreated wastewater, but the risk to health that this poses can be improved by the use of pathogen risk interventions, which is a cost-effective method to mitigate risk to human health.…”

“…According to Hazin (2009), 40 per cent of the country’s water supply has been lost through leakage, which Tortajada (2006b) suggests is the result of inefficient piping systems. Pineda-Pablos and Salazar-Adams (2009) propose that improved efficiency of water systems in Mexico is vital because so much of the water that enters the system fails to reach the public. The authors – along with Tortajada (2006b) – argue that the piping systems are currently inefficient because they are poorly maintained, which is a direct result of poor management of the system.…”

“…Specifically, Facchini (2009) offers empirical evidence of the inefficacy of Mexican water management legislation. Pineda-Pablos and Salazar-Adams (2009), for their part, provide a comprehensive overview of how Mexican officials and policy makers have dealt with sprawling urbanisation and the pressures this places upon existing Mexican water resources. Finally, Flores et al (2016) use government assessment tools to compare Mexican water policy against its objectives.…”