Increasing social tensions and conflicts can now be observed due to growing water scarcities and higher wastewater discharges in many parts of the world. These conflicts can be analyzed in two ways. First, a social conflict can be responsible for creating water scarcity by reducing accessibility, destroying water systems, and reducing water availability. Second, water resources scarcity, both in terms of quantity and quality, can often be the cause of conflicts in a society. The article focuses on the second type of conflict by analyzing several examples from Mexico: especially conflicts that have been generated by the use of the wastewaters of Mexico City for irrigation in the Mezquital Valley since 1912.
By María Francisca Naranjo Pérez de León and Asit K. Biswas, 1997. Article published in Water International, Volume 22, Number 3, pages 207-214. DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2003.10844602