http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0316waterforum0316.html

World Water Forum aims to avert thirsty future

Chris Hawley Republic Mexico City Bureau Mar. 16, 2006 12:00 AM

MEXICO CITY - Thousands of water experts gather in the Mexican capital today to discuss some scary stuff: future droughts measured in millions of deaths, possible wars fought over rivers and how bad water management could scar civilization forever.

They couldn't have picked a better site. The world's second-biggest metropolis (after Tokyo) is an example of how to destroy a paradise by sucking away its water. It's a lesson that other dry places should pay attention to, experts say.

Universities and research centers in Arizona, which has spent most of the past decade in drought conditions, are sending at least seven people to the fourth World Water Forum to encourage research in the state and swap ideas about water policy. advertisement

"We have a lot of experience that we can share," said Kathy Jacobs, executive director of the Arizona Water Institute, a consortium of state agencies and universities. She said the Arizona experts also are eager to share their knowledge of groundwater management, which lies at the heart of Mexico City's own water problems.

When the Spaniards arrived in 1519, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitln was the Venice of Latin America, an island city surrounded by floating gardens, canals and causeways. An aqueduct carried pristine water to the city from springs on Chapultepec Hill.

Now, the lakes are gone, the water table is dropping, and the city is literally sinking into the earth. Buildings are being ripped apart as the ground shrivels beneath them. The old lake bed becomes a killing field during earthquakes.

With a centuries-old history of water problems, it's a fitting location for the water forum, which brings together 13,000 scientists, activists, diplomats and water officials for six days of seminars and debate.

The U.S. government's 77-member delegation is led by the Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of State for democracy and global affairs.

At the end of the meeting, government representatives will issue a declaration outlining water policies that should be followed. The recommendations have no legal force but often help influence policymakers, Jacobs said.

Many of the discussion topics are important to Arizona: coping with drought, sharing water along international borders and improving agriculture in dry areas. To emphasize water's importance to Arizona, a group of 25 Native American athletes ran the 1,800 miles to Mexico City from the Hopi Reservation to help kick off the forum. The group, which is not participating the talks, was expected to arrive at the foot of Chapultepec Hill this morning.

The sessions tackle some worst-case scenarios, like water-related wars and massive droughts. "Conflict and Water Management" and "Safe Drinking Water in Areas of Armed Conflict" are on the schedule.

"There are countries all over the world that share the same watersheds, and different frictions have developed over them," said Jos Antonio Rodrguez Tirado, coordinator of regional delegations. "There are a lot of issues in that respect that have not been resolved, and they need to be."

Sending representatives are 121 countries. Among those people are Japan's Prince Naruhito and the Netherlands' Prince Willem-Alexander.

They will be meeting near the shore of a long-disappeared lake, part of the complex water system that once surrounded Tenochtitln. The Aztecs built huge floating mats to grow their food and used boats to move produce along canals.

After the conquest, the Spaniards drained the highland lakes, first through a tunnel and then using a canal. In the 1840s, the city began drilling wells for water. As the aquifer was used up, the center of the city began to sink.

Since the early 1900s, the downtown has dropped 30 feet, buckling as it goes. Colonial buildings are tilting and full of huge cracks. Engineers have installed cables and massive turnbuckles to keep old churches from splitting apart.

In recent years, the sinking of downtown has slowed to less than a quarter-inch per year, mainly because the ground can't compress much further. But the suburb of Nezahualcoyotl is still dropping about a foot a year.

The sinking has brought back the flooding. It also has snapped pipes, so the city loses about a third of its drinking water through leaks. Some parts of the city have to get water from tanker trucks or even have it delivered by burros.

"It's many problems coming one after another, and there's no easy solution to it," said Maria Vicenta Esteller, a Mexico's Interamerican Water Resources Center researcher.