Within the framework of the World Water Day, in Mexico 11 percent of inhabited homes do not count with piped water from the public network, that is, out of 24.7 million homes nationwide, 2.7 million do not count with this service, according to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) Social Gap Index, whose estimations are based on the 2005 2nd Population and Housing Count.
The Mexican states with a greater social gap index are: Guerrero with 34.5 percent; Oaxaca 28.0 percent; Chiapas 27.2 percent; Veracruz 25.7 percent, and Tabasco 24.2 percent.
The states with a lower social gap index under this indicator are: Distrito Federal (Capital City) 1.8 percent; Aguascalientes 2.3 percent; Colima 2.8 percent; Tlaxcala 3.4 percent and Coahuila 3.9 percent.
The CONEVAL Social Gap Index incorporates indicators that enable a multidimensional poverty measurement. These indicators are: education, access to health services, basic services, home quality and spaces, and home assets. With this, it intends to contribute to the generation of information for better decision making in matters of social policy, facilitating the location of priority attention areas, as is set forth by the General Law of Social Development.
In Mexico there are a number of federal programs aiming to the conservation of water quality for human use and consumption, to the increase in coverage, its sanitation and the promotion of an efficient use of water.
The external evaluations performed in 2006 on several federal programs under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (SEMARNAT) are useful to know the actions developed by the federal government, fulfilled achievements and the challenges still faced by public policy in this field.
For example, the Clean Water Program (PAL) has as an objective the disinfection of water and its sanitary prevention to improve public health, reducing the incidence of disease in marginalized populations or among indigenous groups in areas of high levels of morbidity and mortality due to the consumption of contaminated water.
The Potable Water, Sewer System and Sanitation in Urban Areas Program (APAZU) grants support to States and Municipalities for the improvement of water services in urban areas to cover the existing gaps and tend to the demand by the population lacking said services.
The Program for the Construction and Rehabilitation of Potable Water Systems and Sanitizing in Rural Areas (PROSSAPYS) aims to benefit through subsidies sustainable and attainable infrastructure projects to generate coverage increases in marginalized rural areas with the participation of the communities.
The Program for the Efficient Use of Water and Power (PUEAEE) grants financial funding to agricultural producers to rehabilitate plants, wells and pumping equipment for agricultural irrigation.
According to the 2006 external evaluations these programs have generated various benefits to the population such as the reduction of hydric source diseases, greater hygiene, the increase of the value of land, environmental improvements, economic benefits, increases in the coverage of potable water, sewer and sanitation systems, increases in harvested surfaces, improvement in water management efficiency, and promotion of the co-responsibility by federative entities.
However, major challenges are still to be overcome to solve the gaps existing in matters of water, such as: the lack of adequate mechanisms for the focalization of benefits; a greater diffusion of the works done to improve and improve its use; a lack of coordinated and long term planning of the works performed; and slow administrative processes.
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