ABSTRACT
Water has influenced different aspects of Mexico's social and economic development. To this day, vestiges of pre-Hispanic irrigation systems and aqueducts testify to the importance of water. 1 Some of the aqueducts that served colonial cities are still in use, and irrigation works, built more than 100 years ago in the large haciendas, are the close precedent to Mexico's modern irrigation systems. For the last 75 years, the expanding use of water for irrigation, urban, and industrial uses has been based on the development of hydraulic infrastructure and on the implementation of policies to ensure adequate water management.
