MUNICIPAL AND INDUSTRIAL WATER SUPPLY IN CIUDAD JUAREZ,MEXICO1

Rapid industrialization and population growth in the north Mexican desert city of Ciudad Juarez are placing a serious strain on the city's municipal water resources. Water deliveries and service area have more than doubled over the past decade, and plans for additional expansion are presently being implemented. This expansion is already contributing to water table declines and salinity increases in the Mexican portion of the Heuco Bolson, the sole source of water for the city. Continued mining of the limited fresh water reserves should produce serious water supply problems in the near future. New estimates of future water consumption incorporated into a digital aquifer simulation model indicate that these problems may show up much sooner than was anticipated in previous investigations. The results of this study point to the need to accelerate the gathering of basic data on alternative water resources. The problems faced by Cd. Juarez are illustrative of the kinds of difficulties likely to confront other rapidly developing cities of the arid zone.     

PRICING IRRIGATION WATER IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES1

ABSTRACT Alternative combinations of water pricing and regulations are possible in allocating irrigation water. The best combination will depend on the value of water, ability to control deliveries, desire to subsidize agriculture, ownership traditions, crops grown, return flows, drainage problems, staff training, ability to collect fees, the number of farmers involved, etc. Marginal cost pricing is just one possible alternative and it is more a way of thinking about prices rather than a set system. The possibilities for achieving an equitable and efficient distribution of water are improved if some form of marginal cost pricing is included in the system of water charges.     

DESIRED AND ACHIEVED OUTCOMES IN FEDERAL WATER RESOURCES PLANNING1

ABSTRACT Local or project level planning occurs within most federal water resources programs. Such planning involves both federal and local participants, and commonly involves a range of interest groups. It is necessary to know what goals these participants believe the planning process ought to achieve in order to design planning procedures which will meet their expectations. Social judgment analysis was used to elicit those goals for respondents who had participated in one of five different federal water resources programs, in one of five different roles. Respondents also evaluated the extent to which the planning activities in a recent project in which they had participated had actually attained the posited goals. The respondents believed that responsiveness to local problems was significantly more important than resolving conflicts or increasing public understanding. A fourth goal, achieving national objectives, was believed to be less important than the other three. No significant differences in these goal evaluations were associated with the type of program in which the respondents had participated. However, there were significant differences associated with the respondent's role in the planning process. Respondents' ratings of the effectiveness of actual planning projects varied by both program and respondent role.