Abstract

DURAN-JUAREZ, Juan M.  and  HERNANDEZ-GARCIA, Adriana. Changes in Mexico's rivers and basins during the 20th Century: the Sabinos-Zula basin in Jalisco. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2010, vol.7, n.1, pp.1-16. ISSN 1870-5472.

Water abundance in the Zula river basin was an important reference for the establishment and growth of populations in the towns of Arandas, Atotonilco el Alto, Tototlán and Ocotlán. However, integration of municipalities into economic development during the second half of the 20^th Century transformed the quality of the river watercourse. In the last decades, two of the principal changes that affect the Zula river are: urban growth and the tequila industry boom. The increase in tequila's popularity during the 1970s has made it a drink of global consumption, a process that was consolidated with the tequila designation of origin (TDO), and the creation of regulating organizations which allowed the vigilance and productive protection of Agave tequilana Weber. Three decades after the peak in national and international markets, the growing production of agave-tequila has transformed the environment of the Zula river basin. This document refers to Río Zula³, in Jalisco, México, to the changes that have occurred in the municipalities that make up the watercourse, and to the environmental factors that have impacted its basin during the 20^th Century.

Keywords : Agave; water; environment; basin; tequila.