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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 10, No. 6
Publication Date: June 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/abr.106.12511. Ledesma-Carrion, D. E. (2022). Consumption, Extraction, Recharge and Availability of Water in the Main Subsectors of the Mexican
Manufacturing Industry, Regional Levels. Archives of Business Research, 10(6). 149-170.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Consumption, Extraction, Recharge and Availability of Water in
the Main Subsectors of the Mexican Manufacturing Industry,
Regional Levels
Dora Elena Ledesma-Carrión
National Institute of Statistic and Geography, México
ABSTRACT
If the consumptive use of water in agriculture, domestic, thermoelectric plants and
service enterprices does not decrease, will the water be available for consumption
in the manufacturing industries? There is no certainty of the availability of this
resource in the medium or long term. Aquifer recharge depends on temperature- precipitation cycles and desalination processes, where appropriate. Using gray
forecast models, linear and non-linear regression, the main sustainability
indicators were calculated considering the subsectors that most demand water, to
obtain a medium-term vision, applying scenarios to 2030 of status of resource at
the national level, (administrative) water region and federative entity, as well as,
by surface or underground source. Pollutant aspects or water quality were not
considered. The results show the urgent decision-making to ensure the availability
of water.
Keywords: Industrial water consumption, water pressure, water availability
industrial use, SDG indicators.
INTRODUCTION
Historically, agriculture consumes about 70% of available water. The self-sufficient industry
excluding thermoelectric plants, 4%, the rest for public use, thermoelectric and hydroelectric.
The industrial uses of water can be divided into three large groups: heat transfer, power
generation and application to processes. The present study focuses on the latter at the national
level (N), administrative water region (RHA) and federal entity (EF), taking as a case the Lerma- Santiago-Pacific system (RHA-VIII) and the state of Aguascalientes (AGS). The general
methodology can be applied to any other case. In the production line there are stages that need
water, one of them is the transport of materials that uses pipes or channels. The industries with
high demand for water in Latin America and the Caribbean are the food, paper pulp, textiles,
leather tanning, chemical and pharmaceutical, and oil processing industries [1, 2]. In selected
regions and main groups of subsectors demanding the resource, their consumption rate by
2030 was calculated. As a comparative case in the manufacturing industry, Revollo et al. [3]
established the value of water (VAm) from the San Juan River in the RHA-VI. This subregion
was declared in deficit in 2015 by decree [4]. Transforming the values published by subsector
and comparing them with those calculated here, there are differences of an order of magnitude
between the water consumption indices (ICAm) for the case of AGS, see table 1. It all depends
on the recharge of aquifers (RA) and taking care of the volume of extraction (EAm). The RA
depends exclusively on rainfall and runoff in the area, as well as temperatures [2] that affect
rain cycles, so observing climate change (CC) is decisive. There are other forms of supply such
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Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
as desalination of water in the coastal states. Water productivity (PIA) is the ratio between the
production of the product (goods and services) and the need for water. Another aspect of
interest is the effective use of water (IEA), which is the relationship between the VAm that is
used and the value of industrial production (VPI) obtained with said water, that is, a general
indicator of performance in the use of the water [5,6]:
��� = ����� �� ����� ��������
������ �� ������� �������� ... ... ... (1)
Mexico in 2006 surpassed El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala in this aspect [2].
For 2008, the IEA in Mexico, RHA-VII and AGS were 0.012215633, 0.013418551 and
0.005897867. They have been increasing since then, which speaks of the implementation of
technology and the use of recycled water. The indicators mentioned together with the
population growth rates and the gross domestic product (GDP) are related to the water
pressure (PH) and the availability of water (DA) in the future. From data up to 2019, values to
2030 were calculated for three groups of subsectors. NAICS code is used. A) Group 322-323:
Paper and cardboard industry. B) Group 324-326: Manufacture of products derived from
petroleum and coal. Chemical industry. Plastic and rubber industry. C) Group 333-336:
Manufacture of machinery and equipment. Manufacture of computer equipment,
communication, measurement and other electronic equipment, components and accessories.
Manufacture of accessories, electrical appliances and electrical power generation equipment.
Manufacture of transportation equipment.
The objective of this study was to obtain a medium-term overview of the status of water for
consumption in the most demanding economic subsectors and to compare its dynamics with
that of other related indicators. Section 2 presents the resource status in the three study
regions. The methodologies and the scheme are explained in section 3. In section 4, the initial
and final results are presented according to the scheme in figure 1. The analysis and discussion
of the results obtained appear in section 5. Finally, in section 6, the conclusions.
Brief state of art
In Mexico, 13 RHAs were established, of which RHA-VIII corresponds to 5.78% of the national
territory and presents one of the most industrialized and productive areas of the country.
Within the region, AGS is the one that suffers the most from the liquid, having a high volume of
extraction and low recharge of aquifers, with a semi-arid climate in 86% of its territory and
temperate sub-humid in the rest. Annual precipitation, maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin)
daily average temperatures from 1926 to 2020 of 526 mm, 30.86°C and -2.69°C, respectively. A
positive trend of Tmax of 0.77°C, early shift of the beginning of the rainy season, changes in its
frequency and intensity were detected. From 1980 to 2020, the changes in Tmax and Tmin were
0.00008 oC/day and -0.00017 oC/day, respectively [7]. AGS corresponds in the territory of the
RHA-VIII to 1.8% while Jalisco is the largest with 24.7% [8]. Although it is one with less
extension, it has had an explosive economic development in the last decades with the
consequent population increase and the requirement of infrastructure and services. Subtle
local changes in temperature, soil type and orography affect precipitation cycles and
consequently aquifer recharge. There are 5 dams and 32 watercourses for exclusive domestic- industrial use [8,9], the others are for consumptive agricultural use. There are no
thermoelectric or hydroelectric plants. There are five aquifers: Aguascalientes Valley, Chicalote
Valley, El Llano, Venadero and Calvillo Valley. Which present overexploitation (since 2010) and
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Ledesma-Carrion, D. E. (2022). Consumption, Extraction, Recharge and Availability of Water in the Main Subsectors of the Mexican Manufacturing
Industry, Regional Levels. Archives of Business Research, 10(6). 149-170.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.106.12511
in 2021 a deficit (recharge-extraction) of -100.4, -11.9, -5.8, -0.6 and -17.9 [hm3], respectively.
While there is a positive balance in the RHA-VIII (1617.79 hm3) and in the country (51,245.39
hm3) [8-11]. With this scenario, how is it possible to maintain productivity while maintaining
low water availability?
IEA was built with the particular indicators of Mexico defined in the National Water Program
2020-2024 published in the DOF on December 30, 2020 in the heading Parameter of priority
objective 2 [4]. Those shown in this work correspond to the level of regionalized economic
subsectors (IEAm). Taking into account all socioeconomic sectors, the minimum value
worldwide was 0.1 (Botswana 2000, Libya 2016, Mali 2000-2006, Nigeria 2000-2011) and in
Mexico it was 0.17 in 2005 and 2006. The world maximum value was 46331.38 (Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines in 2018) and in Mexico of 59.85 in 2018 [6]. In the case of the manufacturing
industry (m) in Mexico and the regions studied, the range was from 0.005416098 to
0.055343133. The evolution of the IEAm was calculated using gray methods with up to 13 initial
data (2007-2019), the Runge-Kutta interpolation method for some unregistered values based
on the analysis of functional forms of behavior of the variables involved.
In 1993 industrial consumption was 1.7%, currently it is 3% for AGS [10,11]. In the RHA-VIII
there are four predominant climates: warm subhumid, dry and semi-dry, temperate humid and
warm humid, which allows the recharge of aquifers and basins in the Pacific but not in the
Santiago River and aquifers in AGS. In case N, seven types of climates are recorded: a) with
greater extension the climates: warm sub-humid, dry and semi-dry, very dry or dry desert; b)
with a smaller surface, the climates: warm humid, temperate sub-humid, temperate humid and
cold with the minimum surface [12].
Arreguín [1] warns about the lack of actions for the efficient use of water since government
programs are grouped by scope, that is, there are efficient use programs for industries,
municipalities, or basins, but there is no interrelation between them, to really optimize the use
of the resource, orienting all in the same direction. In its comprehensive thinking it follows that
planning is a priority from the basin level. The chemical, sugar, oil, pulp and paper industries,
at the national level, are supplied directly from rivers, streams, lakes or aquifers. EAm reached
7083.6 hm3 in 2005 and 4400 hm3 in 2019. In RHA-VIII of 392.9 and 618, AGS of 12 and 22,
respectively [10]. Note: 1 hm3 = 106 m3. It was observed that water consumption has increased
in AGS (83.3%) and RHA-VIII (57.3%), while at the N level it has decreased by 37.9%. The state
municipalities that consumed the most water in industries were Aguascalientes and Calvillo,
and of underground origin [11]. In the 2000s, the municipality of AGS mainly consumed water
from deep wells between 300 and 600 meters [13], currently they have had to drill up to 800
meters in some areas with the presence of heavy metals such as arsenic, zinc and cadmium
[8,14]. Revollo et al. [3], calculated VAm for manufacturing activities through Cobb-Douglas and
Translog-type production functions, see Table 1.