IWRA Proceedings

AbstractAbstract The Basin of Mexico, where Mexico City is currently located, has had a history driven by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and climatic changes. This paper will try to analyze the evolution of the sewage infrastructure of Mexico City during its history and to study the effects provoked by climate changes during the last 20,000 years and what will be the impact of climate change in the next 100 years, taking account of the different existent scenarios, as well to propose and to analyze the future solutions related to the sewage infrastructure by the government and other groups. The Basin of Mexico is located in the Mexican high plateau and it was an open or exorheic basin in the beginning, however through the time and as a consequence of numerous eruptions the basin was transformed at the end of the formative period into a closed or endorheic basin. Currently, it is again an open basin due to anthropogenic reasons. The human occupation of the basin started more than 20 000 years ago. Today, it has several urban centers and its largest city is the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City, with a nearby population of 20 million of inhabitants. As an endorheic basin the climatic variations were not only the result of local changes but also from global changes. Thus, the overpopulation of today has had a decisive effect on the modification of the Basin.