Estimation of the Natural Recharge of the Valley of Mexico Aquifer, Under Different Scenarios of Climate Change and Land Use and Vegetation

The urban sprawl of Mexico City and the informal settlements in conservation land are some of the negative factors in order to provide sufficient and safe water for the population of Mexico City. This urban sprawl also caused the deterioration of natural resources and many other negative impacts such as, the lack of drinking water, the overexploitation of aquifers and the contamination of soil, air and water.

It is well known that the drinking water supply in Mexico City is becoming increasingly costly, have negative impacts at the basin where the water is extracted and the aquifer of Mexico City is overused. A viable option for to alleviate these problems is to recharge the natural or non-natural aquifer recharge.

In this paper the estimation of the natural aquifer recharge of the Valley of Mexico is approached under different scenarios of land use and vegetation, i.e., in the years 1980, 2000 and 2015 by conducting the results of the natural recharge for 2015 to the impact that could have climate change in terms of annual precipitation decreasing by an average of 10% and urban sprawl no longer increasing in area by the 2050s.