A few months ago, the Guadalajara metropolitan area faced a situation few cities want to experience: Nearly 655 neighborhoods were affected by water quality problems, according to data from the Jalisco State Human Rights Commission (CEDHJ). For many families, turning on the tap meant finding water with an unpleasant odor, a cloudy appearance, brownish coloration, and particles that could be seen with the naked eye. The situation raised concerns among residents.
The situation became serious enough for the Jalisco Health Ministry to recommend that residents in affected areas not use tap water for drinking, cooking, or even brushing their teeth. In some cases, residents who came into contact with or consumed the water reported stomach problems and eye infections, prompting the health authority to advise against its use and recommend bottled water instead. The situation also led authorities to deploy 40 mobile water treatment plants to serve the most affected neighborhoods and provide an alternative source of drinking water.
What happened in Guadalajara should not be viewed only as a problem affecting this city. After nearly 20 years working in the water sector, I see it as a sign of what could happen in other parts of Mexico if we do not change how we address these challenges. When it comes to water, as in many other areas, prevention is better than reacting: We need to identify problems in our sources early, anticipate risks, and use the right technology before an issue reaches people’s homes.
In Guadalajara, nearly 60% of the water supplied to the metropolitan area and its more than 5 million people comes from Lake Chapala. The rest comes from sources such as Calderón Dam, deep wells, and other urban sources.
This is one of the main challenges. Water can be affected by different sources of pollution. Industrial discharges can introduce chemicals, heavy metals, and other compounds, while agricultural activity and urban runoff can also affect water quality. We are no longer dealing only with treating domestic water, but with sources that may contain high concentrations of heavy metals and compounds that are difficult to remove through conventional methods.
For these challenges, there are alternatives such as smart quality sensors, advanced membranes, and advanced oxidation processes that can complement conventional treatment when contaminants cannot be adequately removed through traditional methods. But technology can also help before water reaches a treatment plant.
Smart Sensors and Direct Potable Reuse
Today, it is possible to monitor industrial discharges in real time. Instead of relying only on inspections that take place periodically or at the discretion of an inspector, smart sensors can be installed at different points to continuously measure various parameters and send that information to a central platform. If a parameter exceeds established limits, the system can generate an alert and allow action to be taken before the problem moves further through the watershed.
I like to compare this with traffic cameras. We do not need a police officer on every corner to know when someone exceeds the speed limit. Technology can identify the violation and create a record. We can apply a similar approach to water: We can know what is happening at a discharge point, when it happened, and where it came from.
This is not only about enforcement. It is also about prevention. If we have continuous information about water quality, we can identify a problem before a contaminant reaches a water supply source and creates a larger impact.
We also need to think about how to increase water availability. One of the most common responses to water scarcity is to drill more wells. However, taking more water from an aquifer does not create more water; it simply means using a resource faster than it can naturally recover.
This is where direct potable reuse can become an important alternative. The idea is to take wastewater that has already been treated and subject it to advanced treatment processes to bring it back to a quality suitable for human consumption.
This approach is already being used in other parts of the world. Cities such as El Paso, Texas, and Orange County, California, have developed large-scale water reuse projects. In Jalisco, technical discussions and working sessions have also been held with operators of these systems to explore how they could be adapted to the state’s conditions.
Jalisco’s recently presented Water Plan also creates an opportunity to move this conversation forward. The plan includes a fund of more than MX$5 billion (US$295 million) for more than 30 short-term actions. The opportunity is not only to address current needs, but also to use this investment to introduce solutions that can address water availability and quality challenges in the years ahead.
Part of these resources can help strengthen existing infrastructure, but it is also worth considering alternatives such as water reuse and advanced treatment systems. If we already know about solutions that work in other cities and have resources available for investment, we have an opportunity to make decisions with a long-term perspective, so that each project not only addresses an immediate need but also helps increase water availability.
In this way, we can make better use of the water we already have and help regions with lower water availability develop new sources of supply. Wastewater can stop being viewed only as something that needs to be treated and become part of the solution.
But what happens to the water after it has been treated, as it travels through the distribution system?
According to the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA), Mexico’s drinking water distribution networks have an estimated average age of between 40 and 50 years. When pipes develop cracks or breaks and a network loses pressure, groundwater can enter the system and potentially introduce contaminants.
This means the work does not end when water leaves a treatment plant. We also need to make sure the infrastructure transporting that water is in adequate condition to preserve its quality until it reaches homes.
Replacing these networks takes time and investment. While cities work on these projects, we also need to think about the alternatives available to people who need reliable water today.
Atmospheric Water Generation
One of them is atmospheric water generation, from companies like Water Harvesting Inc, which allows households and small businesses to produce water from humidity in the air without depending directly on the public water network. In areas where tap water is not reliable, as has happened in parts of Guadalajara, these systems can provide an independent source for drinking water. The equipment captures water from the air, treats it, and adds minerals before delivering it to the point of consumption.
This gives users an independent source of water while public infrastructure is being rehabilitated and modernized. It is not intended to replace the public water network or solve Mexico’s water challenges on its own. It is an alternative for people who need reliable water today.
Ultimately, what happened in Guadalajara leaves us with a lesson that goes beyond a single emergency. Water security does not depend on a single treatment plant, a single source, or a single technology. We need to better understand our water sources, prevent pollution, improve treatment processes, rehabilitate distribution networks, develop new water sources, and use technology to anticipate problems.
The tools to do this already exist. The challenge is to integrate them and start using them before another city has to turn on the tap to discover that its water system has reached its limits.
Guadalajara can be a warning, but it can also be an opportunity to show that Mexico can build water infrastructure that is more preventive, technology-driven, and prepared for what lies ahead.
