WATER SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGIES FOR NORTHERN MEXICO

Water sustainability is the long-term balance between supply and demand as a function of both environmental attributes and the intensification of demand on water and land use for economic activities. In Chihuahua, the water resources are being affected by intensive demands from agriculture, public supply, and water deliveries for the Treaty of the USA-Mexico Rivers. This study evaluates groundwater under trend, contextual, and strategic scenarios in Chihuahua. The trend scenario was evaluated based on available historical information on the quality and availability of water from 61 aquifers awarded for the Chihuahua state. The contextual scenario was determined by considering the Mexican government's plans, projects, and government programs. The strategic scenario was obtained from the analysis presented in the trend and contextual scenario and incorporated to the Mexican public policies and their impact in the near-term for groundwater. Water availability is declining within this consumption regime, resulting in continued depletion of aquifers and surface waters in the coming years, that is further exacerbated by high salinity content. Under the contextual scenario, the current public policies do not contribute to obtaining a significant impact to improve the availability and quality of water resources. Finally, the strategic scenario shows that policies and guidelines must be aimed at the efficient use and consumption of groundwater within conjunctive use and hydrogeological feasibility: a) to implement a real-time monitoring network that integrates all supply wells; b) to establish policies for the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater, as well as the climate variability to predict events of drought and torrential rains for the use of water throughout the watersheds for recharge and conservation works; to increase the efficiency, regulation, and monitoring frameworks for use and movement of water resources; to invest in wastewater treatment under the concepts of recycling for reuse; and c) to implement monitoring and control programs that provide environmental protections. Thus, the evaluation of the environmental and economic attributes helps to define the suitability of the groundwater within conjunctive use and allows the identification of future environmental and resource conflicts