Water supply crisis at Mexico City International Airport

Mexico City’s International Airport (AICM)

, the biggest and most important in the country, has serious problems in supplying drinking water .

Currently, 9 out of 10 liters consumed in the AICM arrive daily to the terminal through 38 pipes of 40,000 liters each, which costs MXN $177,281 daily .

That is, the 47.7 million national and international passengers who visit the air terminal each year and require drinking water, use the one that arrives in pipes because the Mexico City Water System (SACMEX) only has the capacity to meet 8% of the needs of the airport.

According to the General Direction of Operation of the AICM , the main issue is the supplying of drinking water with “ high costs ,” since the supply of SACMEX is less than 10% of the total demand.

Originally, the water supply for Mexico City’s airport was through the public network , which distributes water to settlements in the area.

Nonetheless, the airport uses more water than the SACMEX can offer because it has to attend the demand of the inhabitants of the region , and thus what is missing “is completed through the purchase of water through pipes,” as it reports in the request presented to the Investment Unit of the Mexican Ministry of Finance to perform studies to determine the requirements of the airport for the recovery of rainwater and treated water and the supply of drinking water .

Use and misuse of water resources in Mexico

A single provider.

As part of this strategy, the government analyzes the acquisition of rights, licenses, and concessions of water in favor of the airport and quit the dependency of the terminal on the supply through pipes, which is controlled by a single provider.

According to historical data of the airport, in 2018 it used more than 672,780,283 liters in a year, equivalent to 21.3 liters per second , of which 616,264,000 (19.5 liters per second) were supplied through pipes.

The supply is used for needs in different services like restrooms, irrigation, restaurants, and equipment washing , among others.

Each cubic meter of water supplied through pipes had an average cost of MXN $105 , with a total cost for the administration of the air terminal of MXN $64,707,720 in 2018.

In the last 10 years , the AICM has relied on a single provider: Adolfo Trejo Castorena , as shown in the historical relation of contracts in Compranet.

Actually, last March 22nd this provider got the contract for Service of Drinking Water Supply in Pipes Over 30,000 liters for 2019 and that will end on December 31st, 2020 , for a minimum of MXN $58.6 million and a maximum of MXN $146.5 million , as documented in the Transparency Site of the AICM.

Environmental impact of New Mexico City Airport

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