Water Management in San Luis Potosi Metropolitan Area, Mexico

The San Luis Potosi Metropolitan Zone, one of the key urban centres of Mexico's semi-arid central region, has experienced remarkable socio-economic development in recent decades, but it confronts inadequate water services in a context of scarcity, inefficient management, and lack of planning, investment and technology. Strategies currently being undertaken include efforts to improve the efficiency of wells, reduce leakage, sanitize the area, and develop alternative water supplies from neighbouring catchments. The challenge today is to move from considerations that focus mainly on supply management, to an approach based on integrated water resources management. This represents an immense task, but innovative water technologies, management systems and institutional arrangements are necessary in order to meet the multiple objectives of equity, environmental integrity and economic efficiency.