P. (Flip) Wester: "Shedding the Waters: Water Reforms in the Lerma-Chapala Basin, Mexico"

Water resources development has led to water overexploitation in many river basins around the world. This is clearly the case in the Lerma-Chapala Basin in central Mexico, where excessive surface water use nearly resulted in the drying up of Lake Chapala, one of the world’s largest shallow lakes. It is also a basin in which many of the policies prescribed in international water debates were pioneered. This thesis investigates the relationships between water overexploitation, water reforms and institutional transformations in the Lerma-Chapala Basin. It shows how water reforms have changed water governance in the Basin, but have not led to a reduction of water overexploitation. Rather, an important driver of the water reforms was the objective of the water bureaucracy to strengthen its autonomy and control over water governance. The thesis concludes that an explicit recognition of the powerful interests linked to water use and finding ways to bring these interests to the negotiating table is a necessary first step for making the “water transition”.

Title thesis: "Shedding the Waters: Institutional Change and Water Control in the Lerma-Chapala Basin, Mexico"