The Visibility of Citizen Participation and the Invisibility of Groundwater in Mexico

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the social responses to protect and prevent conflict over groundwater resources. By means of a qualitative method and a study of the Valles Centrales and Valle de Mexicali aquifers in Mexico, we found that centralized water management, citizens’ socio-environmental awareness, an asymmetry of power between stakeholders, an imposition of government policies, and economic interests are all contributory factors to emerging conflicts over groundwater. However, citizen participation has developed to provide organized individuals with an opportunity to influence public decisions through the recognition of their rights with respect to water inequalities. However, a limitation of the study is the illustration of conflictual events through the interpretation of qualitative data and of the opinions of the actors studied. However, the construction of hydrosocial territory in these aquifers is concretized in the potentiality and significance of citizen participation in promoting sustainable and socially responsible public groundwater policy at the regional level.