Urban water management in Monterrey, Mexico
Encyclopedia
Beginning early in the 20th century, Monterrey
, Mexico began a successful economic metamorphosis and growth pattern that remains an exception in Mexico
. This all began with increased investments in irrigation that fueled a boom in agriculture and ranching for this northern Mexican city. The economic growth has fueled income disparity for the 3.86 million residents who live in the Monterrey Metro area (MMA). In addition, the rapid urbanization has taken a large toll on the water resources. In addressing many of this challenges, the city of Monterrey has become a model for sound and effective Integrated urban water management
.
The challenges that Monterrey has confronted pertain to scarcity of surface water resources, poor water quality due to untreated industrial effluents, political cycles and term-limits which can limit long-term vision, and water disputes between urban and agricultural users. Fortunately, Monterrey has good groundwater "well-fields" that supply about 40% of the water demand for the city and generally are not over-exploited because of good connections to high-yield aquifer
systems in the central parts of the "Curvatura de Monterrey". These wells are managed as storage reserves that can be used in time of drought, which is quite common in this region of Mexico.
Also unique to Monterrey is an arrangement made between farmers and the municipality, whereby the farmers grant the use of their water rights from the nearby Cuchillo reservoir and the municipal water utility SADM (Servicios de Agua y Drenaje de Monterrey) returns urban used and treated water to farmers for irrigation
. This arrangement has benefited both parties since SADM supplements its water supply with high quality but internmitent supply from the Cuchillo reservoir and farmers receive a consistent and full of nutrients water for irrigation. The longer term outlook for the area is for urbanization to continue and water availability to decrease, therefore, new water management strategies will have to be created.
Referred to as the "Mexican Miracle" from the 1940s through the 1970s, rapid economic and population growth transformed Monterrey into the second most important industrial city and second largest city in the country with a metropolitan population of 3.8 million. Monterrey's rapid urbanization
was driven in part by the development of assembly plants (‘‘maquiladoras’’) and expanded significantly with the 1994 signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA). More specifically, the electronics industry became the largest industry in Monterrey and employs large volumes of industrial solvents in its productive process. These harmful chemicals are the most serious concern to surface and ground water in the Monterrey metro area.
A water shortage in the late 1970s forced rationing on 750,000 people, most of whom were poor and already experienced low access to water. Forced water rationing spawned water protests that escalated to larger organized mass rallies, blockades, seizure of water service trucks, taking over of government buildings, and the holding hostage of water delivery drivers. Most of these actions were led by poor women and resulted in presidential action with the creation of the "Water for Everyone" (Agua para Todos) program that ushered in a new era of government spending that promised to bring water to every resident by 1985.
, and is situated approximately in the center of the state located in NE-Mexico and close to the Texas
border. Monterrey has an elevation of 1740 feet (530.4 m) above sea level and is located in a wide basin about 40 miles (64.4 km) across, surrounded to the north, west, and south by mountains. It has a semi-arid climate with a mean temperature of 75o F (24o C). However, most of the year temperatures are either warmer than 82o F (28o C), or cooler than 57o F (14o C). Monterrey's annual rainfall averages 584 mm (23 inches), with most of this total falling between June and October during the Atlantic hurricane season.
Surface water:
The San Juan River
with a surface area of 20,212 km2, accounts for 31.5% of the entire surface area of the State of Nuevo León and is the largest and most important river in supplying water to Monterrey.
Storage Reservoirs:
El Cuchillo dam (1,123,000,000 cubic metres active capacity) was constructed 75 km upstream of the Gómez dam and began operations in 1993 primarily to supply water to Monterrey. The Marte R. Gómez (MRG) dam, constructed in 1936 just upstream of the San Juan's confluence with the Río Bravo, serves as the Bajo Río San Juan (BRSJ) irrigation district's principal reservoir with 829,900,000 cubic meters active storage capacity.
Groundwater:
Monterrey groundwater is accounted for by 46 deep wells (700 to 1000 m), 74 wells (<100 m), three water tunnels (Cola de Caballo I and II, San Francisco), and two major springs. The wells are located in the ‘wellfields’ (area with many boreholes) and contribute 40% of the total water that consumed in Monterrey. The three most important ‘wellfields" are the "Metropolitan Area of Monterey Wellfield", "Buenos Aires Wellfield", and "Mina Wellfield". The "Buenos Aires Wellfield" is the most important and contributes nearly half (46%) of the groundwater extracted (~ 1.5 m3/s). It is located in a mountainous area of the "Huasteca Canyon" close to Monterrey. These ‘wellfields’ provide high quality water with a low cost of treatment.
According to data gathered by researchers at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Mexico, a medium annual precipitation of 538 mm/year within the Buenos Aires wellfield´s catchment area is sufficient to recharge the aquifer while allowing for a discharge of around 1,600 L/s (400 gal.) that can safely be extracted at any given time. In 1998, the wellfield was operated at a mean discharge of 1,535 L/s. Due to higher extraction during most of the last 25 years however, dynamic levels in some of the wells have been observed to drop almost 100 meters over a period of several years indicating possible over-exploitation. While this does occur, the wellfields are quickly and completely recharged back to artesian
conditions by hurricanes that have passed through in recent decades. Hurricanes do not appear in the hydrological balance that is based on 538 mm mean annual precipitation, therefore, long term aquifer reserves are considered to be significantly higher, implicating that extraction from the Buenos Aires wellfield can be considerably higher than 1,600 L/s without overexploiting the aquifer system.
Other sources of water include man-made tunnels and natural springs (3.20% of total supply); water culture programs, reusable water from wastewater treatment plants and rehabilitation of groundwater wells that now provide access to aquifers.
In 1992, when the National Water Law (Ley de Aguas Nacionales), management of water and irrigation systems became decentralized from the federal level to state and municipal levels. Irrigation districts, from that year on, became open to privatization and have since been responsible for maintaining themselves. Immediately, the lack of federal funding and resources to the irrigation districts around Monterrey caused problems such as lack of maintenance and management capacity. As the MMA continues to urbanize and demand for water supplies grow for both industrial and public use, irrigation districts 025 and 026 are seeing their irrigated lands contract.
Recent statistics show mean domestic water consumption for the city is about 12% of total discharge (Mexico average = 17%) or 10,400 liter per second (~2750 gallons) with lows in winter of 9,300 L/s (2,457 gallons) and high peaks in summer of 12,100 L/s (~3200 gallons). SADM estimated 2002 daily per capita domestic water consumption to be 130 L (32.5 gal.), down 18% from 1997 due to constant supply of 335 million cubic metres/year with a constant increase in population.
from bodies of water and evapotranspiration
from surrounding flora. In El Cuchillo, the largest reservoir in the area, water evaporation is equal to the amount extracted for drinking water at least five months of the year due to a large water surface and shallow depth of the reservoir. The impact of water loss through evaporation is very high as more than half of Monterrey's water supply comes from surface water.
and Tamaulipas
as well as between urban and agricultural water interests in the basin. An article from a 1999 issue of the publication, Borderlines, does a good job of describing why there is conflict between the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. Until the construction of the El Cuchillo project, the reservoir created by the Marte R. Gómez Dam, known in the U.S. as Sugar Lake, had provided a relatively clean source of drinking water to Reynosa, Tamaulipas and irrigation water to the 26th Irrigation District, which surrounds Sugar Lake. But since coming online, El Cuchillo has devastated northern Tamaulipas. As a result of the diversion upstream, water that once supported rural users downstream has virtually dried up. Approximately 300 fishing families who earned their living from Sugar Lake lost their livelihoods, as have some local merchants and motel owners. Likewise, farmers in the 26th Irrigation District have lost their crops over several seasons and affected crop lands are estimated as high as 70,000. As many as 20,000 families may have been affected. Also, Reynosa's drinking water now comes from the Rio Grande, which is extremely polluted. To date, the Mexican government denies any responsibility and blames the problems on the ongoing drought.
Disputes over water between agriculture and municipal needs have been mitigated to some degree as the Monterrey water utility, SADM, now returns treated effluent back to the farming districts. This solution seems to be working for both sectors; however, the program and strategy will have to be re-evaluated as water resources become scarcer.
SADM has developed a program to replace micro-meters and valves on its secondary water network. The program had a goal of changing 700,000 water meters by April 2003. Another goal of the program was to increase water supply to the city by 2,500 L/s. Actions taken to achieve this included repairing leaks in the system, promoting water re-use in industry, extracting water from new wells, using new sources which contain sulfured water, reducing urban consumption by 5% and using technologies to avoid evaporation in dams.
A particular type of Water User Association (WUA) called ‘‘módulos’’ propose operation and maintenance (O&M) plans for irrigation systems while also supporting farmers with procurement and marketing plans.
IBWC (International Boundary and Water Commission) has responsibility for applying the boundary and water treaties between the United States and Mexico. The IBWC is an international body composed of the United States Section and the Mexican Section, each headed by an Engineer-Commissioner appointed by his/her respective president. The commissioners report to their respective federal authorities (State Department in the case of the US, and Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores in Mexico), but operationally work with state and local agencies on water management and allocation. Each Section is administered independently of the other. The IBWC is important here because the surface water of Monterrey is supplied by the El Cuchillo reservoir receiving water from the San Juan River, a major tributary of the Rio Grande. The Mexican Water Treaty signed in 1944 with the United States covers all shared water resources, principally the Río Bravo/Grande and the Colorado in the West.
Monterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
, Mexico began a successful economic metamorphosis and growth pattern that remains an exception in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. This all began with increased investments in irrigation that fueled a boom in agriculture and ranching for this northern Mexican city. The economic growth has fueled income disparity for the 3.86 million residents who live in the Monterrey Metro area (MMA). In addition, the rapid urbanization has taken a large toll on the water resources. In addressing many of this challenges, the city of Monterrey has become a model for sound and effective Integrated urban water management
Integrated urban water management
Integrated urban water management is a philosophy of varying definitions and interpretations. According to the authors of the book entitled, "Integrated Urban Water Management: Humid Tropics", IUWM is described as the practice of managing freshwater, wastewater, and storm water as components of a...
.
The challenges that Monterrey has confronted pertain to scarcity of surface water resources, poor water quality due to untreated industrial effluents, political cycles and term-limits which can limit long-term vision, and water disputes between urban and agricultural users. Fortunately, Monterrey has good groundwater "well-fields" that supply about 40% of the water demand for the city and generally are not over-exploited because of good connections to high-yield aquifer
Aquifer
An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
systems in the central parts of the "Curvatura de Monterrey". These wells are managed as storage reserves that can be used in time of drought, which is quite common in this region of Mexico.
Also unique to Monterrey is an arrangement made between farmers and the municipality, whereby the farmers grant the use of their water rights from the nearby Cuchillo reservoir and the municipal water utility SADM (Servicios de Agua y Drenaje de Monterrey) returns urban used and treated water to farmers for irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
. This arrangement has benefited both parties since SADM supplements its water supply with high quality but internmitent supply from the Cuchillo reservoir and farmers receive a consistent and full of nutrients water for irrigation. The longer term outlook for the area is for urbanization to continue and water availability to decrease, therefore, new water management strategies will have to be created.
Economic and Social
During the first half of the 1900s, high investments in irrigation infrastructure had spurred agricultural development.Referred to as the "Mexican Miracle" from the 1940s through the 1970s, rapid economic and population growth transformed Monterrey into the second most important industrial city and second largest city in the country with a metropolitan population of 3.8 million. Monterrey's rapid urbanization
Urbanization
Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
was driven in part by the development of assembly plants (‘‘maquiladoras’’) and expanded significantly with the 1994 signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA). More specifically, the electronics industry became the largest industry in Monterrey and employs large volumes of industrial solvents in its productive process. These harmful chemicals are the most serious concern to surface and ground water in the Monterrey metro area.
A water shortage in the late 1970s forced rationing on 750,000 people, most of whom were poor and already experienced low access to water. Forced water rationing spawned water protests that escalated to larger organized mass rallies, blockades, seizure of water service trucks, taking over of government buildings, and the holding hostage of water delivery drivers. Most of these actions were led by poor women and resulted in presidential action with the creation of the "Water for Everyone" (Agua para Todos) program that ushered in a new era of government spending that promised to bring water to every resident by 1985.
Geography and climate
Monterrey is the capital city of the state of Nuevo LeónNuevo León
Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
, and is situated approximately in the center of the state located in NE-Mexico and close to the Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
border. Monterrey has an elevation of 1740 feet (530.4 m) above sea level and is located in a wide basin about 40 miles (64.4 km) across, surrounded to the north, west, and south by mountains. It has a semi-arid climate with a mean temperature of 75o F (24o C). However, most of the year temperatures are either warmer than 82o F (28o C), or cooler than 57o F (14o C). Monterrey's annual rainfall averages 584 mm (23 inches), with most of this total falling between June and October during the Atlantic hurricane season.
Water availability
The city of Monterrey receives 60% of their water supply from two major rivers and three major reservoirs while the remaining 40% comes from an extensive network of wells.Surface water:
The San Juan River
San Juan River (Tamaulipas)
The San Juan River is the largest and most important river in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. The river feeds the El Cuchillo Dam, which provides the city of Monterrey with water. The San Juan River basin has a total surface area of . The San Juan River is a contributor to the Rio Grande...
with a surface area of 20,212 km2, accounts for 31.5% of the entire surface area of the State of Nuevo León and is the largest and most important river in supplying water to Monterrey.
Storage Reservoirs:
El Cuchillo dam (1,123,000,000 cubic metres active capacity) was constructed 75 km upstream of the Gómez dam and began operations in 1993 primarily to supply water to Monterrey. The Marte R. Gómez (MRG) dam, constructed in 1936 just upstream of the San Juan's confluence with the Río Bravo, serves as the Bajo Río San Juan (BRSJ) irrigation district's principal reservoir with 829,900,000 cubic meters active storage capacity.
Groundwater:
Monterrey groundwater is accounted for by 46 deep wells (700 to 1000 m), 74 wells (<100 m), three water tunnels (Cola de Caballo I and II, San Francisco), and two major springs. The wells are located in the ‘wellfields’ (area with many boreholes) and contribute 40% of the total water that consumed in Monterrey. The three most important ‘wellfields" are the "Metropolitan Area of Monterey Wellfield", "Buenos Aires Wellfield", and "Mina Wellfield". The "Buenos Aires Wellfield" is the most important and contributes nearly half (46%) of the groundwater extracted (~ 1.5 m3/s). It is located in a mountainous area of the "Huasteca Canyon" close to Monterrey. These ‘wellfields’ provide high quality water with a low cost of treatment.
According to data gathered by researchers at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Mexico, a medium annual precipitation of 538 mm/year within the Buenos Aires wellfield´s catchment area is sufficient to recharge the aquifer while allowing for a discharge of around 1,600 L/s (400 gal.) that can safely be extracted at any given time. In 1998, the wellfield was operated at a mean discharge of 1,535 L/s. Due to higher extraction during most of the last 25 years however, dynamic levels in some of the wells have been observed to drop almost 100 meters over a period of several years indicating possible over-exploitation. While this does occur, the wellfields are quickly and completely recharged back to artesian
Artesian aquifer
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. This causes the water level in a well to rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached. This type of well is called an artesian well...
conditions by hurricanes that have passed through in recent decades. Hurricanes do not appear in the hydrological balance that is based on 538 mm mean annual precipitation, therefore, long term aquifer reserves are considered to be significantly higher, implicating that extraction from the Buenos Aires wellfield can be considerably higher than 1,600 L/s without overexploiting the aquifer system.
Other sources of water include man-made tunnels and natural springs (3.20% of total supply); water culture programs, reusable water from wastewater treatment plants and rehabilitation of groundwater wells that now provide access to aquifers.
Drainage
Management of drainage infrastructure is the domain of SADM. Despite comparably low rainfall, Monterrey receives storms and hurricanes of great intensity during the months of May and July. Drainage has been under relative control during these storms. Flooding from storms is also a distinct possibility during September and October, therefore the government has sought to protect the citizens of Monterrey by building 160 km of drainage infrastructures including: 1) seven large storm water canals totaling 60 km; 2) three retention dams; 3) 47 smaller drainage branches totaling 70 km; 4) and 26 km of other municipal works.Irrigation
The irrigation districts within the watersheds serving the MMA are the Bajo Río San Juan (BRSJ) irrigation district #26 (ID026) and the Bajo Río Bravo (BRB) irrigation district #25 (ID025). The farmers in these two irrigation districts are receiving water through a unique compensation arrangement that includes crop loss payments on the order of US$ 100 per hectare un-irrigable land due to the diversion of water to Monterrey plus an additional 60% of the water diverted to be returned to farmers as treated effluent via the Ayancual Creek, Pesquería River. While this has been a success, the Mexican irrigation sector will continue to face intense competition for water given: (a) low water productivity in agriculture leading decision-makers to allocate water to higher productivity uses particularly in cities; (b) priority accorded to the domestic use component of municipal water supply; (c) and Mexico's national interests in meeting its water sharing obligations with the United States.In 1992, when the National Water Law (Ley de Aguas Nacionales), management of water and irrigation systems became decentralized from the federal level to state and municipal levels. Irrigation districts, from that year on, became open to privatization and have since been responsible for maintaining themselves. Immediately, the lack of federal funding and resources to the irrigation districts around Monterrey caused problems such as lack of maintenance and management capacity. As the MMA continues to urbanize and demand for water supplies grow for both industrial and public use, irrigation districts 025 and 026 are seeing their irrigated lands contract.
Water use & water coverage
Water in the Mexican part of Río Bravo including the San Juan sub-basin are used as follows: 78% for agriculture, 12% for urban-public supply, 8% for industry, and 2% for Livestock. Monterrey has 99% coverage in water supply and 98% in sewer and close to 100% in wastewater treatment. Despite high coverage and efficiency rates, the city continues investing in expanding its capacity and improving its operations.Recent statistics show mean domestic water consumption for the city is about 12% of total discharge (Mexico average = 17%) or 10,400 liter per second (~2750 gallons) with lows in winter of 9,300 L/s (2,457 gallons) and high peaks in summer of 12,100 L/s (~3200 gallons). SADM estimated 2002 daily per capita domestic water consumption to be 130 L (32.5 gal.), down 18% from 1997 due to constant supply of 335 million cubic metres/year with a constant increase in population.
Pollution
The fast pace of economic growth for the Monterrey Metro Area (MMA) has placed an increasing toll on water quality as industry (ex. Electronics) has discharged untreated industrial effluents and population has grown at a faster rate than the rest of Mexico. Consequently, availability of clean water resources has been impaired by contamination from industrial and residential sources along the Rio San Juan. Another river that first became polluted from industrial effluents and then completely dry from overuse is the Santa Catarina River.Water shortage & scarcity
Evaporation and droughts have played a significant role in Monterrey's ongoing struggle to acquire adequate quantities of water. Because Monterrey is located in a semi-arid region where surface water is scarce and rainfall is infrequent, high temperatures stimulate high degree of water loss through evaporationEvaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
from bodies of water and evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration is a term used to describe the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land surface to atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies...
from surrounding flora. In El Cuchillo, the largest reservoir in the area, water evaporation is equal to the amount extracted for drinking water at least five months of the year due to a large water surface and shallow depth of the reservoir. The impact of water loss through evaporation is very high as more than half of Monterrey's water supply comes from surface water.
Water disputes
El Cuchillo dam is the centerpiece of the basin's water management infrastructure and has become the flashpoint of a multi-faceted water dispute between the states of Nuevo LeónNuevo León
Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
and Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...
as well as between urban and agricultural water interests in the basin. An article from a 1999 issue of the publication, Borderlines, does a good job of describing why there is conflict between the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. Until the construction of the El Cuchillo project, the reservoir created by the Marte R. Gómez Dam, known in the U.S. as Sugar Lake, had provided a relatively clean source of drinking water to Reynosa, Tamaulipas and irrigation water to the 26th Irrigation District, which surrounds Sugar Lake. But since coming online, El Cuchillo has devastated northern Tamaulipas. As a result of the diversion upstream, water that once supported rural users downstream has virtually dried up. Approximately 300 fishing families who earned their living from Sugar Lake lost their livelihoods, as have some local merchants and motel owners. Likewise, farmers in the 26th Irrigation District have lost their crops over several seasons and affected crop lands are estimated as high as 70,000. As many as 20,000 families may have been affected. Also, Reynosa's drinking water now comes from the Rio Grande, which is extremely polluted. To date, the Mexican government denies any responsibility and blames the problems on the ongoing drought.
Response to challenges
In response to the contamination of the San Juan River, the government of Nuevo León initiated a sanitation program in 1994 entitled Plan Monterrey IV, which included the construction of three large wastewater treatment plants and the discharge of municipal effluents and treated water to other Rio San Juan tributaries. The public perception has remained, however, that the San Juan River is still a polluted river.Disputes over water between agriculture and municipal needs have been mitigated to some degree as the Monterrey water utility, SADM, now returns treated effluent back to the farming districts. This solution seems to be working for both sectors; however, the program and strategy will have to be re-evaluated as water resources become scarcer.
SADM has developed a program to replace micro-meters and valves on its secondary water network. The program had a goal of changing 700,000 water meters by April 2003. Another goal of the program was to increase water supply to the city by 2,500 L/s. Actions taken to achieve this included repairing leaks in the system, promoting water re-use in industry, extracting water from new wells, using new sources which contain sulfured water, reducing urban consumption by 5% and using technologies to avoid evaporation in dams.
Institutional Framework
SADM (Servicios de Agua y Drenaje de Monterrey) is the water and sewer utility and supplies water in the Monterrey metro area (MMA). SADM is an autonomous public utility under the government of the state of Nuevo León and is the acting water authority in throughout the MMA.A particular type of Water User Association (WUA) called ‘‘módulos’’ propose operation and maintenance (O&M) plans for irrigation systems while also supporting farmers with procurement and marketing plans.
IBWC (International Boundary and Water Commission) has responsibility for applying the boundary and water treaties between the United States and Mexico. The IBWC is an international body composed of the United States Section and the Mexican Section, each headed by an Engineer-Commissioner appointed by his/her respective president. The commissioners report to their respective federal authorities (State Department in the case of the US, and Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores in Mexico), but operationally work with state and local agencies on water management and allocation. Each Section is administered independently of the other. The IBWC is important here because the surface water of Monterrey is supplied by the El Cuchillo reservoir receiving water from the San Juan River, a major tributary of the Rio Grande. The Mexican Water Treaty signed in 1944 with the United States covers all shared water resources, principally the Río Bravo/Grande and the Colorado in the West.
See also
- Water resources management in MexicoWater resources management in MexicoWater resources management is one of Mexico's pressing concerns, and it is imposing heavy costs to the economy. The arid northwest and central regions contain 77% of Mexico's population and generate 87% of the gross domestic product . Poor southern regions have abundant water resources...
- Irrigation in MexicoIrrigation in MexicoMexico, a classified arid and semi-arid country, has a total land area of 2 million square kilometres, 23% of which is equipped for irrigated agriculture. The agricultural sector plays an important role in the economic development of the country accounting for 8.4 of agricultural gross domestic...
- Water management in Greater Mexico CityWater management in Greater Mexico CityGreater Mexico City , a metropolitan area with more than 19 million inhabitants including Mexico's capital with about 9 million inhabitants, faces tremendous water challenges...
- Water management in the Metropolitan Region of São PauloWater management in the Metropolitan Region of São PauloWater management in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo faces several challenges, including pollution of drinking water reservoirs that are surrounded by slums, water scarcity leading to conflicts with the Campinas Metropolitan area to the north, inefficient water use, and flooding...
- Integrated urban water management in Medellín, ColombiaIntegrated urban water management in Medellín, ColombiaIntegrated urban water management ' in Medellín, Colombia is considered to be an overall success and a good example of how a large metropolitan area with moderate income disparity can adequately operate and maintain quality water supply to its many citizens...
- Urban water management in Bogotá, ColombiaUrban water management in Bogotá, ColombiaWater management in Bogotá, Colombia, a city of more than 7 million inhabitants, faces three main challenges: improving the quality of the highly polluted Bogotá river, controlling floods and revitalizing riparian areas along the river....
- Integrated urban water management in Buenos Aires, ArgentinaIntegrated urban water management in Buenos Aires, ArgentinaIntegrated urban water management ' in Buenos Aires is not unlike many large urban areas in Latin America where in past decades, more focus was placed on just a few sectors or only one sector...
- Water management in greater TegucigalpaWater management in greater TegucigalpaTegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, is located in a central mountainous region having a tropical climate within the Choluteca River Basin. Major rivers supplying the capital city are the Choluteca and Guacerique rivers which then fill the Concepción and Laureles storage reservoirs...
- Integrated urban water management in Aracaju, BrazilIntegrated urban water management in Aracaju, BrazilIntegrated urban water management in Aracaju, the capital city of the Brazilian State of Sergipe has been and still is a challenging prospect. Home to half a million people, Aracaju is located in a tropical coastal zone within a semi-arid state and receives below average rainfall of...