Exploring groundwater resource vulnerability and water scarcity in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Keywords: groundwater, karst, water scarcity, social-ecological systems, socio-hydrology, socio-hydrogeology, integrated modeling
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

Declining water quality and increasing water scarcity may affect the Riviera Maya and the coastal communities and ecosystems that depend on water as a natural resource. Development along the Caribbean coast of Mexico has drastically increased in the past 40 years. The booming tourism industry has dramatically increased demands on local water supplies. This industry is estimated to consume 202 million cubic meters of water yearly. The Riviera Maya is located in a karst environment, which results in a lack of surface water systems and a network of aquifers. This network of karstic aquifers supplies groundwater for several land and marine ecosystems that provide valuable ecosystem services across the Yucatan Peninsula. Eventually discharging into the Caribbean Ocean, where it meets the second largest coral reef barrier in the world. Coastal karst aquifers are extremely vulnerable to degradation, contamination, and depletion. It is unclear how patterns of water use by tourism may be depleting groundwater quantity and/or degrading groundwater quality and how these changes are affecting water availability to local communities and ecosystems in the Riviera Maya. This research will (1) characterize the relationship between social and ecological systems through their shared reliance on water resources, (2) evaluate water scarcity in the region as a function of biophysical, socioeconomic, and social-ecological system resilience, (3) explore the vulnerability of the social-ecological system to groundwater depletion and degradation and (4) examine how coastal communities that rely on water for their livelihoods may be affected by ongoing changes in water resources in the region.