Water Distribution in Mexico City:
the De-Privatization of the Water Industry and it’s Effects
Lauren Heyn, Tad VandenBrink, Meagan Chuey
Introduction
• Mexico City: struggling to provide all of it’s citizens with sanitary water
• Lack of water due to many things: - unpredictable transportation of water- deficiency of waste water treatment plants- fraction of the water industry into the federal, state, and private water distribution sectors
Main Issue:
The source of all problems is in the fractioning of the water industry. Therefore we propose that the water distribution in Mexico would be easiest solved by a full takeover by the federal government
- large short-run cost, even larger long-term benefit
Problems with Water Distribution
Water problem has three dimension:a) treatment of waterb) drainage of waterc) transportation of water
Treatment of Water- Leads to diseases, particularly for small children and
the elderly- 12 million die each year due to diseases
caused by unsanitary water- results on a dependence on the bottled-water industry- decrease in tourism and businesses
willing to locate here - Many people do not have access to sewers
- Waste is released directly into ground, contaminating the ground water
Drainage of Water
- Only two canals that currently drain the city
- should either of these fail, would lead to a great amount of flooding
- Mexico City is surrounded by mountains and is slowly sinking, creating a kind of ‘hole’ that would be difficult to drain should extensive occur
Transportation of Water
- Rainfall not distributed evenly throughout country, so there is a great need for the transportation of water
Transportation of Water (cont.)
- Currently being transported through old, leaky pipes
- water lost would provide for 4 million people
- Misappropriation of water- an excess amount of water is being
used unwisely for irrigation – this takes away from water being able to be used in city
Focus on Irrigation- 76% of water is used for irrigation
- this water does not need to be treated as heavily, makes water more
accessible and cheaper- stronger focus on drainage and
storage of this water
Water Industry
- Split between federal, state, and private water distributors
- We recommend the federal government taking full control and responsibility of the water industry
Brief History of Water Industry
- Responsibility of the water industry in Mexico City has flipped between the federal and state governments to private corporations
- in 1980s, programs funded to improve transportation and efficiency, and although successful, funding was cut to
go towards other things
Brief History of Water Industry (cont.)
-Setting a trend for future governments, Mexico adopted the policy of privatizing the water industry
-led to several companies owning different parts of the water industry
- This system of negotiating contracts over short and long periods of time between private companies leads to inefficiency
Problems with Privatization- Constant need of a middle man between the private
companies and the government leads to inefficiency - Often these wastewater treatment plants will be
owned by foreigners and the economic benefits will be reaped by other countries
- Employment outsourced- When employment not outsourced, often
results in horrible working conditions, overworking, and underpayment
Government Taking Responsibility
- Help from the UN in setting up stable infrastructure
- Developing a global partnership for development - Combating diseases - Ensuring environmental
sustainability
Conclusion
- We believe that the government should take total control of the distribution of water and infrastructure of the water industry in Mexico City
- Without the funding within the country to support this, help should be requested from the UN
Top Related