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Future Challenges of Managing a Threatened Global Resource: The Case of Fresh Water Sustainability in West Central Mexico

October, 2004

The Ayuquila Restoration Project

In keeping with IMECBIO's and DRBSM's regional approach, their work in the Sierra de Manantlán extended to the downstream, lowland communities along the Ayuquila River.

Sixty percent of the biosphere reserve is located in the Ayuquila River watershed and the river receives some of Sierra de Manantlán's "green" water. The Ayuquila River is a source of drinking water for 80,000 people in the basin and for the irrigation of almost 12,000 hectares, but it had become seriously polluted as a result of sewage and industrial effluent from communities along the river.

An increase in water withdrawals from industry and the resulting sedimentation had degraded downstream waters, consequently posing problems for local communities that fish and use the water for irrigation (Santana et al, 1993). Pollution from a sugar mill, in particular, seriously affected water quality, which culminated in a major crisis in 1998, when molasses from the factory spilled into the Ayuquila and killed fish downriver. Since fishing is a significant resource for food and commerce to communities along the river, this incident was one factor that led to a serious conflict over shared water resources. Many people in the communities downriver from the mill were angry that the mill did not seem to be doing anything to improve their environmental practices, and that the federal water agency, the Comisión Nacional de Agua (CNA), preoccupied with major problems in the adjacent Lerma-Chapala basin, did not consider this issue a priority. For people in the more prosperous "up river" towns of Autlán and El Grullo, improved environmental conditions appeared to involve a negative economic trade-off. They were concerned about water pollution, but it was difficult to express their objections because the mill had reactivated the regional economy and created jobs locally. If too much pressure was exerted on the mill, people were afraid that it would close, adversely affecting not only farmers growing sugarcane, but also the employees of the mill who would lose their jobs.

To help address these conflicts, IMCEBIO worked with stakeholders to initiate a public education campaign to call attention to problems of water quality, and to pressure the mill and government into action. This campaign proved to be successful, as local people realised it was possible to improve their local environment without losing their jobs. It was also the catalyst for a process of consultation between stakeholders, which eventually led to the Ayuquila Restoration Project. This innovative plan for the integrated management of the lower Ayuquila watershed, involved eight municipalities, local community representatives, the federal Ministry of Environment, and the University of Guadalajara. The process also involved making links with experts from as far away as Cuba and Canada. Cuba shared sugar production and manufacturing techniques that were less damaging to the environment, and municipalities in the Ayuquila region made links with Canadian municipal leaders who had forged successful municipal-community partnerships in watershed management.

After a long, ongoing and often very difficult process between diverse stakeholders, the Ayuquila Restoration Project has achieved many positive results. The government has forced the mill to operate less destructively and to pay for some river restoration, and the town of Autlán is building a treatment plant for municipal wastewater. As a result of these efforts, the river now has higher oxygen levels and is richer in numbers of fish, and 85 per cent of people in the affected communities believe their water quality has improved as a result of these efforts. These examples from the Sierra de Manantlán and the Ayuquila River watershed, in many ways, represent "success" stories in the attempt by committed local stakeholders to develop participatory forms of common pool resource management. By comparison, the Lerma-Chapala Basin to the east of Sierra de Manantlán illustrates the increasing complexities and challenges of common pool resource management at a much larger scale. Next: The Lerma-Chapala Basin: The impacts of basin closure