Inequality in the public water supply in Mexico: An undeniable reality

Abstract

Mexico is a country of contrasts, even in the allocation of water for public use by state. The southern entities receive less water flow, despite having the highest availability of annual average renewable water in the entire country, compared to those in the center and north of Mexico. The research objective was to find out if there was inequality in the allocation of water for public supply to the states whose Indigenous language-speaking population represented 2 % or more, and if the maximum temperature was relevant in said allocation. For this, an econometric model was proposed, whose explained variable was the water assigned for public use, and the explanatory ones, the population and the maximum temperature by state, were estimated by means of ordinary least squares. The main results were that the population-allocation elasticity of water for public supply for the northern entities that have an indigenous-speaking population of 2 % or more was 1.099 %; for those in the south, only 0.667 %, and for the rest of the country, 1.074 %. It was concluded that inequality does exist, and that it is greater if the states are located in southern Mexico and 2 % or more of their population speaks an indigenous language.