While deep wells have become an alternative for water supply in Mexico City, intensive exploitation could be creating more problems than solutions, warned experts in sustainability, geophysics, and urbanism, according to the Autonomous Metropolitan University.
- Water Supply System: The city currently operates a network of at least 470 wells, along with external systems like Cutzamala and Lerma, providing for millions of inhabitants.
- Risks of Deep Extraction: Issues such as subsuelo depressurization, differential sinking, cracking, and even the occurrence of micro-earthquakes are becoming increasingly apparent with deeper wells.
Carlos Vargas Cabrera, academic director of the Center for Sustainability of Sierra Nevada Incalli Ixcahuicopa (Centli), explained that while these wells provide sufficient water volume, the quality is deteriorating. The deeper the extraction, the higher the temperature and concentration of other substances.
Vargas warned that this method of extraction negatively impacts the “health” of the subterranean basin by disrupting the natural water cycle, making the area more unstable over time. Historically, wells have been dug to depths exceeding 2,000 meters, altering the subsurface hydrological infrastructure that has been in place for thousands to millions of years.
In 1985, Pemex engineers began studying Mexico City Valley’s subsuelo, looking for severe fissures and identifying high-vulnerability zones in case of another earthquake similar to that year’s. Though no significant cracks were found, they discovered a large aquifer, offering a new water source for the capital.
