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Shared groundwater resources between Mexico and the United States are facing unprecedented stressors. We reflect on how to improve water security for groundwater systems in the border region. Our reflection begins with the state of groundwater knowledge, and the challenges groundwater resources face from a physical, societal and institutional perspective. We conclude that the extent of ongoing cooperation frameworks, joint and remaining research efforts, from which alternative strategies can emerge, still need to be developed. The way forward offers a variety of cooperation models as the future offers rather complex, shared and multidisciplinary water challenges to the Mexico–US borderlands.

Drought monitoring is a critical activity for drought risk management; however, the lack of ground-based observations of climatological and hydrological variables in many regions of the world hinders an adequate follow-up and investigation of this phenomenon. This paper introduces a transparent framework for monitoring the spatio-temporal distribution of drought hazard based on uni- and multivariate standardized drought indices that use reanalysis datasets of hydrological variables available freely and globally. In the case study of the 2015–2017 East-Southwest drought in Mexico, the introduced framework successfully detected the spatial and temporal patterns of drought conditions, even in regions where a benchmark drought monitoring system failed to detect deficits. In addition, the ability of the introduced framework to detect drought impacts on the annual agricultural maize production in Mexico was evaluated using data of 1980–2018, yielding scores of the false alarm ratio =0.32, the probability of detection = 0.71, and the proportion correct = 0.68 for the analysis at the national scale. Currently, the framework provides a significant extension to the capabilities for national drought monitoring, and it is being used by the Mexican water authority in the decision-making process related to drought severity assessment.

Childhood education programmes aiming at incorporating topics related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have gained recognition as key levers in the progress of education for all students. Inspiring young people to take part in the discovery and delivery of science is of paramount importance not only for their well-being but also for their future human development. To address this need, an outreach model entitled OH-Kids was designed to empower pupils through the development of high-quality STEM learning experiences based on a research project. The model is an opportunity for primary school learners to meet geoscientists while receiving the take-home message that anyone can get involved in scientific activities. The effort is part of a research project aimed at the real-time monitoring of precipitation in Mexico City, which is a smart solution to rainfall monitoring using information and communications technologies. The argument behind this effort is that in order to produce the next generation of problem-solvers, education should ensure that learners develop an appreciation and working familiarity with a real-world project. Results show success at introducing the role of researchers and STEM topics to 6–12-year-old learners.

Speech of Dr. Adrián Pedrozo-Acuña Head of the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA), during the inauguration of the Binational Conference on the intersection of Climate Change and Water, Agriculture and Economics, organised by the Mexican Embassy in the UK and IMTA.

Obra colectiva que aborda los retos al nivel de la ética y la defensa de los derechos humanos en torno al recurso hídrico desde las políticas públicas, los pueblos originarios y el abordaje de casos específicos.

Parameterization of wave runup is of paramount importance for an assessment of coastal hazards. Parametric models employ wave (e.g., Hs and Lp) and beach (i.e., β) parameters to estimate extreme runup (e.g., R2%). Thus, recent studies have been devoted to improving such parameterizations by including additional information regarding wave forcing or beach morphology features. However, the effects of intra-wave dynamics, related to the random nature of the wave transformation process, on runup statistics have not been incorporated. This work employs a phase- and depth- resolving model, based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, to investigate different sources of variability associated with runup on planar beaches. The numerical model is validated with laboratory runup data. Subsequently, the role of both aleatory uncertainty and other known sources of runup variability (i.e., frequency spreading and bed roughness) is investigated. Model results show that aleatory uncertainty can be more important than the contributions from other sources of variability such as the bed roughness and frequency spreading. Ensemble results are employed to develop a new parametric model which uses the Hunt (J Waterw Port Coastal Ocean Eng 85:123–152, 1959) scaling parameter $\beta \left (H_{s}L_{p}\right )^{1/2}$.

Water issues in Mexico City have been severe during the last years due to population increase, forcing external water sources to meet water demands. This research aims to evaluate the evolution of water vulnerability in the sixteen municipalities of Mexico City in the years 2005, 2010, and 2015. This vulnerability has increased in the last decades due to the combination of several problems such as lack of maintenance in the water infrastructure (eg. water leaks), aquifer overexploitation, uncontrolled city growth, rainwater and wastewater expelled from the basin without the intention of using it. For the vulnerability assessment we used a combination of indicators that respond to its three dimensions: 1). Exposure (urbanization, population, and economic units), 2). Sensitivity (reports of leaks, shortages, and poor water quality) and 3). Adaptive capacity (wastewater treatment, water availability, and GDP). The municipalities identified with very high vulnerability in the three years of study (2005, 2010, and 2015) were Iztapalapa, Gustavo A. Madero, and Tlalpan joined these during 2015. In contrast, those with the lowest vulnerability were Milpa Alta, Magdalena Contreras, and Cuajimalpa; the latter stepped down from having Low to Very Low vulnerability between 2005 and 2010-2015. Between these two classifications, we have the Municipalities that reveal high, moderate, and low vulnerability. The results highlight that all municipalities must prevent water leaks to achieve increasingly sustainable management of the liquid, especially Gustavo A. Madero, Iztapalapa, and Tlalpan. Suggesting that harmonized action among all of them will help accelerate goal achievement. Still, citizen action will play a leading role in maintaining care and water usage levels when promoted and encouraged adequately. At the end of the lecture, the reader would be able to discuss if a series of social elements (like the indicators proposed in this work) construct water vulnerability or depend on the quantity of water the cities receive. Also, they will understand their role in water management and have factors to evaluate vulnerability in other regions.

The increasing trend on water use for hydraulic fracturing (HF) in multiple plays across the U.S. has raised the need to improve the HF water management model. Such approaches require good-quality datasets, particularly in water-stressed regions. In this work, we presented a QA/QC framework for HF data using an outlier detection methodology based on five univariate techniques: two interquartile ranges at 95 and 90% (PCTL95, PCTL90), the median absolute deviation (MAD) and Z score with thresholds of two and three times the standard deviation (2STD, 3STD). The cleaning techniques were tested using multiple variables from two data sources centered on the Eagle Ford play (EFP), Texas, for the period 2011–2017. Results suggest that the PCTL95 and MAD techniques are the best choices to remove long-tailed statistical distributions of different variables, classifying the minimum number of records as outliers. Overall, outliers represent 13–23% of the total HF water volume in the EFP. In addition, outliers highly impacted minimum and maximum HF water use values (min–max range of 0–47 m3/m and 5.3–24.6 m3/m of frac length, before and after the outlier removal process, respectively), that are frequently used as a proxy to develop future water–energy scenarios in early-stage plays. The data and framework presented here can be extended to other plays to improve water footprint estimates with similar conditions.

Security against extreme rainfall events is a basic need for social and economic development. The climate projections suggest a changing world in the rainfall patterns, forecasting increasingly extreme rainfall and droughts events; nevertheless, there is a lot of uncertainty in the future hydrologic cycle of the basins, where rainfall is the more complicated weather phenomena to predict. To deal with this difficulty, process such as assimilation, a better description of weather phenomena and the use of ensembles have been developed. Such technologic advances have resulted in the use of Numerical Weather Prediction Models (NWP) and its chain with Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPS), which have been recognized as valuable tools for a good Warning System. Currently, Mexico City is one of the largest metropolis of the world with more than 22 million of inhabitants and serious difficulties oh hydraulic infrastructure. The city depends completely on the sewage system to prevent and mitigate floods. For these reasons, this work proposes to evaluate the deterministic and meteorological ensemble precipitation forecasts issued by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) for two study cases: 1) Mexico Valley Basin and 2) Mexico City. For study case 1, the precipitation forecasts were compared against 24 hours accumulated observed rainfall, issued by CLICOM System (clicom-mex.cicese.mx) and for 2007 to 2014 period time. For study case 2, the forecast were compared against observed real-time precipitation data issued by the Hydrological Observatory of Engineering Institute (OHIIUNAM), using a lead-time and time step of 90 hours and 6 hours respectively; and carried out for the rainy season of years 2017 and 2018. For this, deterministic and probabilistic verification metrics were applied (Relative Operating Characteristic, Reliability Diagram and the Brier Score) in order to measure the quality and performance of the forecasts products and its potential use for floods prediction in Mexico City. The evaluation of the results shows that the observed events are within the range of the probability distribution, which means that the EPS constitutes a good representation of the possible atmospheric scenarios along the time horizon. Metrics establish a greater reliability for forecast in the range of 2 to 10 mm of accumulated rainfall in 24 hours; in the other hand, there is a good discrimination and accuracy of observed and unobserved events of accumulated precipitation of 1 mm in 6 hours.

An intensification of water use for hydraulic fracturing (HF) to extract oil and gas from deep shale formations has been observed during the last years across the USA, increasing concerns about water resources management in water-limited regions around the world. At the same time, HF has been associated to several environmental and water quality/quantity impacts in many developed plays of USA, China and Canada, nevertheless, assessing impacts on emergent plays involves several difficulties since future development of HF is generally unknown and because of the lack of local data to evaluate water resources baselines.In this work, we present a framework that combines the use of remote sensing derived data to assess the baseline of water resources and the development and application of a statistical model to project the development of HF activities. Remote sensing and global land surface model products of precipitation (CHIRPS), evapotranspiration (MODIS), recharge (WaterGAP model), infiltration and runoff (MERRA) and water storage (GRACE) were used to estimate water availability and the hydrological response of watersheds and aquifers. Scenarios of HF were generated using a statistical model that simulates HF water requirements, hydrocarbon production, flowback-produced water and economic trends, among others factors that influence the HF development.The proposed framework was applied to evaluate the impacts of HF development on the water energy-nexus at the transboundary Eagle Ford play, located across Mexico’s northeast, a water-limited region that contains substantial reserves of shale gas.Scenarios were generated following two economic projections and assuming water use trends and historical HF development from the Eagle Ford, Barnett and Haynesville plays, in Texas, which are geologically similar to the Mexican Eagle Ford play.Results suggested that the higher impacts on the water-energy nexus in Mexico resulted from reported trends in Eagle Ford, Texas, with ~14,000 wells drilled in ten years and an accumulative water use volume of ~450 millions cubic meters, representing about ~69% of the annual groundwater concessions for municipal use.The framework presented in this work can be used in other plays around the world to assess the impacts of HF on water resources and their implications in its water-energy nexus.