water supply

[jesm]

We are four year, full time residents of GTO. Prior to our retirement here I spent 30+ years in water supply and water utility management so I share your keen interest in the present and future condition of water availability.

A close personal friend and professional colleague has been working as a consultant to both the GTO and Aquascalientes state governments and thus has access to the very latest data for both source and demand, ie where water comes from and where it is used.

His conclusion, contained in a report presented in 2014 to our State government, is not encouraging. In short, the available groundwater is beng pumped and depleted at an unsustainable pace due to the rapid population increases across the region combined with growing industrialization. However most impactful is the continual and increasing water use by large-scale agricultural operations primarily in the southern portion of the state. The final report was so pessimistic that the state government refused to accept and publish the findings as it would have ignited a political confrontation between people vs planters. The forecast, if current use patterns and population growth continue without change, is our groundwater supply will be essentially pumped dry over the next 30 years without some hard decisions as to water priority: large farms or large cities?
While surface water, ie rivers, are limited and seasonal they too must be fully managed to help avert a future where extreme conservation measures will be required. One such project is under construction on the Verde River close to the Jalisco and GTO border, with a massive dam project that will see water shared between Jalisco users and metro Leon, whch is projected to have over 3 million residents by 2035. Such projects involve huge infrastructure costs plus the political will and wisdom to actually share water across watershed and political boundaries. Ths is very difficult to accomplish. As we learned years ago, Jack Daniels is for drinking, water is for fighting!

We are not unique in our predicament, California confronts an almost identical situation, and no one has a simple or painless solution.