700 Years of Water History in Mexico City. Lecture by Manuel Perló at Casa de América in Madrid

UNAM Office in Spain maintains a permanent cycle with Casa de América in which different specialists from the university community give lectures on a topic of their specialty, to promote knowledge and dialogue around various subjects of shared interest between both countries.

In this context, on April 8, doctor Manuel Perló Cohen gave a lecture titled “700 years of water history in Mexico City”, in which he addressed the past, the present, and the future of water in a metropolis that is currently home to about 23 million people and in whose history water has been the protagonist of truly extraordinary episodes.

Doctor Perló began this historical journey with the foundation of the great Tenochtitlan and the origins of what is now Mexico City. He explained that the “valley” of Mexico actually sits in a closed basin at an altitude of more than 2200 meters, surrounded by volcanoes and originally dominated by a vast lake system.

Perló brought to discussion the great paradox that the region has always faced: Since Hernán Cortés’ strategic decision to build the city over the Mexica ruins, it has maintained an ambivalent relationship with water which, although it is a necessary source of life, is at the same time a permanent catastrophic risk. The speaker detailed the paradigm shift that occurred during the Colony, when things went from coexistence with water to the systematic attempt to expel it to avoid floods, highlighting monumental works such as the Nochistongo Ditch. 

The 20^th century brought explosive population growth with the consequent overexploitation of aquifers, which once again complicated the relationship with water. Perló warned about the current situation, which he defines as a “stable pathological system:” a chronic crisis that does not collapse completely, but that leads the city to “water bankruptcy.” With alarming data, he pointed out that 35 percent of water is lost in leaks and that, in addition, lack of public investment to finance solutions to water challenges in the medium and long terms lead to shortages that affect consumption and a worrying trend towards the privatization of a basic service that is already recognized by law as a human right. 

Journalist Almudena Barragán, who has documented the Mexican reality for El País for more than a decade, provided a raw and necessary social vision. She emphasized the cruelty of the water paradox: while the city suffers floods in the rainy season, thousands of citizens in municipalities such as Iztapalapa pass days without a drop of water, depending on tanker trucks and the black market. 

Barragán stressed that water has become the greatest indicator of inequality in Mexico, although the crisis is also beginning to reach more favored social classes. Her intervention reinforced the idea that investigative journalism is vital to give voice to these realities and push for effective and transparent solutions, which can commit governments in the long term. 

Finally, doctor Perló concluded by saying that the future of Mexico City depends on a paradigm shift such as moving from the gray infrastructure of large tunnels to a green infrastructure that takes advantage of rainwater and recovers projects such as that of the Texcoco lake. The conference closed with the hope that measures can be taken (after all, the city has always been able to move forward over the centuries) but with a note of urgency: without long-term planning and sufficient and sustained investment, the city could face an apocalyptic fate that only political and technical will can avoid. 

The full conference can be viewed here: https://espana.unam.mx/post/diálogo-700-años-de-historia-del-agua-en-la-ciudad-de-méxico.

Almudena Barragán y Manuel Perló Cohen en la conferencia “700 años de historia del agua en la Ciudad de México”

  UNAM España