Sustainable Wastewater Management to Reduce Freshwater Contamination and Water Depletion in Mexico

At present, most rivers, lakes, and reservoirs in Mexico have significant anthropogenic contamination. The lack of sanitation infrastructure, the increase in the number of nonoperational or abandoned sanitation facilities, limited enforcement of environmental regulations, and limited public policies for the reuse of treated wastewater all contribute to the contamination and water availability problem. The reasons for this are identified as (1) the high maintenance and operational costs in sanitation facilities (including electricity consumption); (2) poor planning and practices of wastewater management and reuse by municipalities; (3) national policies that do not favor the reuse of treated wastewater for agriculture, industry, and municipal services instead of using groundwater as at present; (4) failure to adopt a governance model at the three levels of government; and (5) transparency in the management of financial resources. Some measures to improve this situation include (a) transparent decision-making; (b) participation and accountability in budgeting and planning at the national, state, and municipal levels; and (c) planning for the reuse of treated wastewater to reduce groundwater extractions and to reduce discharges to surface waters from the beginning of every WWTP project.