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An integrated water resource management approach to mitigating water quality and quantity degradation in Xalapa, Mexico

University of British Columbia

Population growth in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, is exerting increasing pressure on the water supplier, CMAS Xalapa, to provide sufficient water of adequate quality. However, the quality of the water sources during the wet season is increasingly degraded with more frequent turbidity peaks of greater intensity. There is also less water available during the dry season. This thesis focuses on Xalapa's main supply source, the Huitzilapan River, as a case study for assessing adequate mitigation measures. It provides a good understanding of the water supply issues and stakes for Xalapa. It also provides a synthesis of the available information on the Upper Huitzilapan as well as an assessment of the challenges and opportunities facing the implementation of an integrated water resources management approach. In this thesis it is argued that efficient and sustainable solutions to Xalapa's water supply issues should not be uniquely of technical nature but addressed through adequate planning and management. While forest conservation and reforestation of the supply watershed are obvious and suggested solutions for mitigating increased pressure on the water supply to Xalapa, the method proposed in this thesis to achieve this goal is an integrated water resource management (IWRM) approach. It is recommended that a water council be created to implement the IWRM plan and to act as a network for cooperation, knowledge sharing and consensual decision-making.

Text

2009-12-11

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/16579

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace