Resumen

VARGAS-VELAZQUEZ, Sergio. Socioeconomic aspects of irrigated agriculture in the Lerma-Chapala basin. Econ. soc. territ [online]. 2010, vol.10, n.32, pp.231-263. ISSN 2448-6183.

Between 1990 and 2003, the Lerma-Chapala basin endured several years of extraordinary drought that reduced the Lake Chapala to 14% of its total volume, threatening drinking water supplies to Guadalajara and creating a huge strain on their distribution between uses and the different regions of the basin. The solution drawn from the governmental level is to transfer water from agriculture to urban-industrial use. One way to achieve this is to generate water savings through irrigation technology; another one is the exchange of volumes or water rights. There have been considerable efforts to change the irrigation technology, without having achieved yet the desired impact at the basin level. Here, we analyse the socioeconomic status of various irrigation systems supplied mainly from surface water and which have been tackled by water policy. Based on this, we strengthen the need for specific water negotiations that recognise the socioeconomic diversity and the different usage strategies of this resource.

Palabras llave : water; Lerma-Chapala basin; water technology; production strategies.

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