Proposal for an urban water indicators framework for Mexico City 2005-2018

Abstract

One of the obstacles in the implementation of an integrated urban water management (IUWM) is the absence or non-implementation of tools that help to set goals and evaluate processes and progress. The use of indicators to analyze changes has been widely accepted; however, until now these indicators have been developed mainly on a large scale, omitting to attend to specific local characteristics and problems. Therefore, this paper develops a framework of indicators to be used as a tool in the IUWM, applied to the case study of Mexico City in the period 2005-2018. The conceptual and methodological framework adopted is based on the principles of IUWM and the Pressure-State-Response causality approach. The formulation of the framework was carried out in five stages. As a result, a set of 12 indicators is presented, divided into four subgroups: (1) operational efficiency to meet drinking water and sanitation service needs; (2) pressure on the water resource that affects water availability and quality; (3) the environmental status of the resource; and (4) society's response to reduce pressures and improve water quality and quantity. For each indicator, its basic attributes were delimited and values were calculated, demonstrating its viability as a public policy evaluation tool in the monitoring stage of the IUWM.