Nourishing diversity in water governance: The case of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

It is May 3, 2009. The mist is receding into the blue-green mountains of San Cristóbal de las Casas, ushered away by the morning sun, as the people of the barrio (neighbourhood) of Cuxtitali gather around a sacred water spring. Fresh water from ancient underground aquifers rushes past the flowers, candles, and crosses adorning the spring and, infused with symbolic and cultural meanings, flows into the metal pipes of modern urban infrastructure. Gravity compels the water through 8 km of semi-urban developments and into the homes of 1,100 Cuxtitali residents in a communally agreed rotation.