FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE TO THE CITY: REFLECTIONS REGARDING WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE JALISCO HIGHLANDS

Abstract

During the 20th Century, important changes came about in water management in the Jalisco Highlands. The region, which is semiarid and has rain for four months per year, of less than 900 mm, has stood out during three centuries in fodder production for cattle. During the second half of the 20th Century, the pattern of settlement changed, becoming concentrated in half a dozen cities of inhabitants dispersed in ranches, with which there were also technological changes for water use: levees and docks on streams ceased to be built because water was contaminated from lack of treatment in nearby cities, which were increasingly large. Livestock production does not use superficial water, because in the last decade of the 20th Century, a federal decree was drawn to cease stopping water runoffs so that they could reach the large dams built to supply water to Guadalajara. The water, which is polluted on the surface, is not used in agriculture because it is only seasonal and livestock production is supplied from deep wells, as are cities, for whose water supply wells have been built, to extract water from internal aquifers.

Palabras clave: Jalisco Highlands, water management

Volumen 6, Número 3
Sep-Dic 2009

Director

Said Infante Gil

Comité Asesor Editorial Interno

Ma. Eugenia Chávez Arellano
Juan Antonio Leos Rodríguez
Jaime Matus Gardea
Jacinta Palerm Viqueira
Verónica Vázquez García
Emma Zapata Martelo
Pilar Alberti Manzanares