Development of a Watershed Sustainability Index for the Santiago River Basin, Mexico

Iyelitzin Núñez-Razo, José de Anda (), Héctor Barrios-Piña (), Luis Alberto Olvera-Vargas, Mariana García-Ruíz-García and Sofía Hernández-Morales
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Iyelitzin Núñez-Razo: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, Monterrey 64849, NL, Mexico
José de Anda: CONACYT-Centro de Investigación y Asistencia en Tecnología y Diseño del Estado de Jalisco A.C., Guadalajara 44270, JAL, Mexico
Héctor Barrios-Piña: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, Monterrey 64849, NL, Mexico
Luis Alberto Olvera-Vargas: CONACYT-Centro de Investigación y Asistencia en Tecnología y Diseño del Estado de Jalisco A.C., Guadalajara 44270, JAL, Mexico
Mariana García-Ruíz-García: Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
Sofía Hernández-Morales: Gobierno de Jalisco, Guadalajara 44190, JAL, Mexico

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-32

Abstract: Sustainability indices are a way of quantifying the progress that a certain region has achieved in terms of sustainability that can be transmitted to society and decision makers. The watershed approach has become relevant for managing water resources and ensuring their sustainability. This study combined the above two approaches by applying an adapted watershed sustainability index (WSI) to evaluate the sustainable development of the Santiago–Guadalajara River basin (SGRB), which passes through Guadalajara, the second-most populous city in Mexico. The river is the most polluted waterway in the country. The WSI of each sub-basin places the SGRB at a sustainability level between low in the upper and lower basin region and intermediate in the central basin region. Regions with a low sustainability level are characterized by environmental degradation due to changes in land use, while in the region with intermediate sustainability, the factor that most affect the evaluation is water availability. An overall sustainability score of WSI = 0.36 was obtained for the study area, which is lower than that of any other basins evaluated in the same manner around the world. These results send a clear message to decision makers of the three government levels, in charge of the environmental sustainability of the basin, of the need to take action to facilitate its recovery.

Keywords: watershed sustainability index; Santiago–Guadalajara River basin; human impacts on basins; natural resources preservation; mitigation policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:10:p:8428-:d:1153071

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