Negotiating Surface Water Allocations to Achieve a Soft Landing in the Closed Lerma-Chapala Basin, Mexico

The Lerma-Chapala basin exemplifies the challenges posed by basin closure, where surface water allocation mechanisms, lack of environmental flows and access to water are critical issues. Underlying these issues is a need for accurate water accounting that is transparent and publicly available. This paper describes basin closure in the Lerma-Chapala basin, and focuses on negotiation processes surrounding surface water allocation mechanisms. Although significant attempts have been made to achieve a ‘soft landing’, the basin is still faced with water over-exploitation, environmental degradation, and a complicated transition from centralized water management to one in which states and water users have a larger say.