Abstract

LOPEZ-ALVAREZ, Briseida et al. WATER POVERTY INDEX IN ARID ZONES: THE BARRIL AQUIFER, SANTO DOMINGO, SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, MEXICO. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2019, vol.35, n.1, pp.35-46.  Epub Aug 21, 2020. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2019.35.01.03.

In Mexico, 73.7 % of the territory is made up of arid and semi-arid zones where groundwater is the main source of supply for the population’s various activities. The municipality of Santo Domingo is in such a case, with a predominantly dry climate and a 99 % dependence on groundwater of the Barril aquifer. Climatic, geological, and hydrological factors have conditioned not only access to water in quantity and quality, but also the type of vegetation and productive activities. Calculating a water poverty index (WPI) allows the evaluation of water poverty taking into account both physical and socioeconomic factors related to the availability of water. The WPI results from the weighted sum of six components: resources, access, use, capacity, quality, and environment, on an evaluation scale of 0 to 100. The objective of this work was to estimate the WPI in a region with extreme climatic conditions, scarce vegetation, contamination problems in soils and water such as those in Santo Domingo, obtaining a score of 27 points.

Keywords : Potosino highland; water resources; human development; water quality; soil saline.