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Urban water development in La Paz, Mexico 1960-present: a hydrosocial perspective

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Abstract

The impact of human activity in the terrestrial water cycle is not contested, yet social data are not fully explained, observed, or shared. This is especially true among low- and middle-income countries. This paper enters the conversation on hydrosocial systems to diagram a watershed in urban Mexico which highlights the historical, biophysical, economic, and cultural relations embedded in the development of urban water infrastructure. Our critical hydrosocial perspective, situated in political ecology and hydrology science, addresses the challenges of managing water resources for a growing population in a desert city. We integrate hydrological and historical data to show how broadening the scale of study from the political boundary of the city to the physical boundary of the watershed identifies human impacts on the water cycle and exposes uneven water allocation under drought conditions. An inclusive review of the historical development of urban water infrastructure in the city challenges the traditional ideas of separation of urban and rural water users in the production of sustainable communities and waterscapes.

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Fig. 1

Source (Niparajá 2014)

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Notes

  1. Amidst social criticisms, the Mexican Congress approved the removal of regulations in 2015 that prevented full participation of the private sector, arguing that private participation is needed for water service improvement, i.e., preventing water transfers between basins without natural connections.

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Acknowledgments

Parts of this work have been submitted by Melissa Haeffner in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a PhD at Colorado State University under IRB 12-3573H. We would like to thank Dr. Dennis Ojima, Dr. Michele Betsill, and Dr. Stephen Leisz for substantial feedback, Dr. Fermín Reygadas and Gabriel Patrón for assisting with identifying and contacting potential interview participants in the field, Mabilia Urquidi Gaume for producing the figures and collecting secondary data sources, and to Luz Fabiola Armenta Martínez and Mariana Ledesma for transcribing and translating the interviews. We are grateful to the two reviewers for their insightful comments. Also, we thank participants in the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) Writing Workshop 2016 for their feedback on an earlier draft. Finally, we are especially appreciative of the decision-makers in La Paz for sharing their thoughts on water management.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Utah State University, 0730 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT, 84322-0730, USA

    Melissa Haeffner

  2. Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, Anthropology Office: Clark B219C, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1787, USA

    Kathleen Galvin

  3. Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, Carretera al Sur KM 5.5, Apartado Postal 19-B, C.P. 23080, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

    Alba Eritrea Gámez Vázquez

Authors
  1. Melissa Haeffner
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  2. Kathleen Galvin
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  3. Alba Eritrea Gámez Vázquez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melissa Haeffner.

Appendices

Appendix 1 : Public official interview guide

Role of organization

What is the role of your agency in water management?

What is your role in the organization?

What do you or your organization think is the major concern about water management in your jurisdiction?

Do you think that environmental conditions are changing in your jurisdiction? If so, how?

Water infrastructure and policy

Which droughts has your organization responded to?

How has your organization responded to drought?

Has your organization learned from past drought and changed its operations accordingly?

Is your policy around water management influenced by other actors (e.g., federal government, state government, lobbyists, civil protests, scientists, etc.)? If so, how?

What do you see are the institutional challenges around drought?

Who do you think should be responsible for responding to drought?

What technology, physical or human capital, has your organization pursued to alleviate water scarcity issues? (e.g., dams, irrigation, desalinization, storage, conservation, economic development/alternative livelihoods)

Water users and behavior

Who is the target population for your services?

What kinds of community relief has your organization devised to respond to drought? What were some the major successes? Were there any failures, if so, have they been addressed?

To what extent do you think government funds influence people’s relationship with the environment at the local level? (What influence does it have on people’s behavior?)

Do you think that households in Baja California Sur have changed how they use water recently? If so, which households? When? Why? How?

Do you think that households in Baja Califoria Sur move when there is a drought?

Do you feel the water infrastructure is adequate to serve the needs of in-migration in the towns/cities?

Do you feel that water infrastructure is adequate in the rancheros?

Suggestions

If you could suggest a policy to better manage water in your jurisdiction, what would it be?

Which agencies or groups in your area are involved in water management (broadly defined) in Baja California Sur?

Whom should I talk to next?

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Haeffner, M., Galvin, K. & Vázquez, A.E.G. Urban water development in La Paz, Mexico 1960-present: a hydrosocial perspective. Water Hist 9, 169–187 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-016-0180-z

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