Challenges and realities of water management of megacities: the case of Mexico City metropolitan area.

• Author: Tortajada, Cecilia
• Position: REGIONAL ISSUES

Megacities--characterized as metropolitan areas of 10 million or more inhabitants--have become an important focus in terms of water provisions, sanitation services and the related impact of urban development on natural resources. While basic needs of residents of smaller cities are very similar, the emphasis placed on megacities lies in the fact that these massive urban conglomerates have grown to almost unmanageable dimensions. This, in turn, has made water provision and sanitation services to the entire population a bleak, if not unachievable, task. (1) In most megacities of the developing world, clean water is both scarce and expensive to produce. Large sectors of the population in such densely populated urban areas do not have access to potable water, and even larger sectors of the population do not have access to sanitation. Non-revenue water--water that is produced and enters the distribution system but that is never billed to consumers because it is lost due to leakages or illegal connections--is up to 30 to 40 percent. Infrastructure is either scarce, becoming complex or deteriorating. In addition, water supplies are largely underpriced and necessary investments are estimated to reach billions of dollars. However, as complex as these matters are, the real challenges in terms of water provision point in another direction. The main problem in urban concentrations, which is further heightened in megacities, is the lack of appropriate management, adequate institutions and sustainable planning to address these challenges beyond short-term approaches.

To provide an overview, this study first analyzes the nature of megacities on a global scale, addressing the delicate relationship between economic development and urban resource management in the face of environmental sustainability. This topic then unfolds through an analysis of the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City (ZMCM), a megacity accounting for approximately 20 to 22 million people and recognized for its diminishing supply of natural resources, among them, freshwater. (2) Emphasis is placed on declining groundwater supply, complexities with infrastructure and concerns regarding sanitation. While the central focus of this argument is the ZMCM water supply; a comparative analysis points out the similarities and differences among megacities across the globe, such as Dhaka, Sao Paulo and Bangkok. Ultimately; this paper attempts to demonstrate that the problem of water access in megacities has less to do with water scarcity and more to do with water mismanagement.

MEGACITIES AS A GROWING PHENOMENON

As urban growth continues to increase worldwide at escalating rates, megacities remain a growing phenomenon. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as globalization progresses, urban regions--in particular, cities with populations exceeding 10 million people--are playing increasingly important roles in the global economy in terms of competitiveness, thus becoming major centers for both local and national policies. (3) Yet, most megacities have focused on economic growth with almost no consideration for environmental sustainability. (4) As a result, these extensive metropolitan areas have created alarming levels of water and air pollution, solid waste and deterioration of their own natural resources. These problems have also reached surrounding regions affected by urban sprawl. The most serious environmental problems are associated with the disorganized expansion of legal and illegal settlements, over-exploitation and degradation of surface and groundwater sources, air pollution, solid waste and the indiscriminate destruction of natural resources. This has created what seems to be an endless vicious cycle in which the deterioration of the environment has resulted in social erosion and vice versa. Mexico City and its surrounding areas have not been an exception.

While Mexico City has achieved high economic growth, its development is still deeply polarized and asymmetric. Economic and social development has flourished in some parts of the megacity resulting in prosperity, but inequalities have become increasingly acute in other parts of the region. (5) In order to maintain and improve the living standards of a growing population, major investments are needed to protect basic resources. Failing to address environmental degradation--such as shrinking freshwater sources--is counterproductive to economic development in the long-run. This holds true because while most megacities focus on increasing foreign competition and employment at the cost of their natural environment, foreign investors tend to be most interested in megacities that not only have the most appropriate institutions, infrastructure and human resources, but also liveable environments and natural resources that will sustain economic activities. (6)

Although all megacities face similar challenges in terms of access to natural resources--like clean water and ensuring adequate control of air, land and water pollution--these urban conglomerations differ in terms of growth rates, types of population, infrastructural needs and environmental conditions. In the developing world, metropolitan areas tend to have high population growth, consistent needs for infrastructural development and increasing deterioration of their environment. In contrast, in the developed world, megacities tend to have slower urban growth, infrastructures that already need to be replaced and more regard for the protection of their environment. In both developing and developed megacities, migration of formal and informal settlers plays an important role in terms of demand and provision of services. (7) In Mexico City and its surrounding areas, illegal settlements are a critical problem. In 2003, there were 804 irregular settlements in Mexico City with approximately 60,000 families. (8) In Mexico State--the most populated of the country's thirty-two states--illegal settlers are creating mushrooming cities that lack basic services. Much of this population is established not only in valleys and hills, but also in areas prone to flooding, which can result in flood hazards that can destroy entire communities. Legal and illegal settlements in flood-prone areas and their social and economic related costs have been heavily felt in several other megacities in addition to ZMCM, such as Sao Paulo and Dhaka. In most cases, it is a problem of which control and solutions go beyond the water sector and which is vested in land-use planning institutions. (9)

Due to their differences in terms of population, location, climate, infrastructure and environmental concerns, each megacity needs to plan and implement its own tailored solutions at its own pace according to local economic, social, environmental and cultural conditions. Yet, a common denominator uniting megacities--mainly in the developing world--is that rates of urbanization have surpassed the capacities of both local and national institutions to provide the population with the necessary services. According to the UN Population Division, the number of megacities has increased from sixteen to eighteen from 2000 to 2005 alone, and this number is predicted to reach twenty-seven by 2025. (10) It is noteworthy that the majority of megacities at the global level are located in the developing world (see Table 1).

In spite of urban growth, the percentage of urban populations living in megacities worldwide has remained about 8 percent from 2000 to 2005. On the contrary, it is in urban conglomerates of less than 500,000 people where the percentage of urban population at the global level is still the highest (52 percent) by cities with 1 to 5 million inhabitants (22 percent). (12) This means that, despite the rate of increased urbanization throughout the last decades, the highest percentages of the world population do not live in megacities; they are more likely to live in small or medium-sized cities. While the growth of small and medium sized-cities is projected to escalate and, with it, the challenges of providing adequate water services, it is the megacities that have turned to almost unmanageable dimensions and require a reexamination of water management.

Furthermore, megacities are not restricted to their geographical boundaries but extend to the regions surrounding them. The escalating demands of megacities in terms of clean water, among other basic necessities, have resulted in negative impacts on the surrounding states and regions, which have been forced to supply megacities with additional commodities. (13) Since megacities continue to increase in size, demand requires the implementation of development models based on social equity and environmental considerations, not only at the local level, but also at the regional level.

Despite these bleak realities, alternatives exist to improve the governance of megacities in order to provide citizens with better access to clean water and other services, as well as improved environmental conditions. OECD, for example, suggests that governance-related issues should be addressed at the metropolitan area level in order to maximize the potential of the urban region. (14) Some of the actions mentioned to improve metropolitan governance include encouraging local governments to work in partnership with business communities, introducing greater transparency and accountability in decisionmaking, developing better frameworks for long-term strategic planning, and improving public access to information and public services, all of which could lead to positive results. (15) The limitations that OECD identifies for achieving better governance at the metropolitan level, however, include a fragmentation of the administrative jurisdictions, a strain on the financial and fiscal ability of local authorities as well as the lack of decisionmaking processes that are both transparent and accountable. (16) There is also a lack of...