Detecting droughts as early as possible is important in avoiding negative impacts on economy, society, and environment. To improve drought monitoring, we studied drought propagation (i.e., the temporal manifestation of a precipitation deficit on soil moisture and streamflow). We used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI), and Standardized Soil Moisture Index (SSMI) in three drought-prone regions: Sonora (Mexico), Maipo (Chile), and Mendoza-Tunuyán (Argentina) to study their temporal interdependence. For this evaluation we use precipitation, temperature, and streamflow data from gauges that are managed by governmental institutions, and satellite-based soil moisture from the ESA CCI SM v03.3 combined data set. Results confirm that effective drought monitoring should be carried out (1) at river-basin scale, (2) including several variables, and (3) considering hydro-meteorological processes from outside its boundaries.

Addressing wicked problems challenging water security requires participation from multiple stakeholders, often with conflicting visions, complicating the attainment of water-security goals and heightening the need for integrative and effective science-policy interfaces. Sustained multi-stakeholder dialogues within science-policy networks can improve adaptive governance and water system resilience. This paper describes what we define as “dialogic science-policy networks,” or interactions -- both in structural and procedural terms -- between scientists and policy-makers that are: 1) interdisciplinary, 2) international (here, inter-American), 3) cross-sectoral, 4) open, 5) continual and iterative in the long-term, and 6) flexible. By fostering these types of interactions, dialogic networks achieve what we call the 4-I criteria for effective science-policy dialogues: inclusivity, involvement, interaction, and influence. Here we present several water-security research and action projects where some of these attributes may be present. Among these, a more comprehensive form of a dialogic network was intentionally created via AQUASEC, a virtual center and network initially fostered by a series of grants from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Subsequently, AQUASEC has significantly expanded to other regions through direct linkages and additional program support for the International Water Security Network, supported by Lloyd's Register Foundation and other sources. This paper highlights major scientific and policy achievements of a notable suite of science-policy networks, shared practices, methods, and knowledge integrating science and policy, as well as the main barriers overcome in network development. An important gap that remains for future research is the assessment and evaluation of dialogic science-policy networks' long-term outcomes.

En este artículo se examina la capacidad de los consejos de cuenca de México para gestionar los asuntos hídricos de su territorio, en particular el caso del Consejo de Cuenca del Alto Noroeste. Para ello se revisa literatura académica sobre los componentes de la capacidad institucional, y se proponen variables para evaluar su efectividad a escala local; se analiza el contenido del marco legal de los consejos, y se juzgan sus alcances y limitaciones. Aunque dicho marco es válido para evaluar la política pública en esta materia en México, y también las variables del consejo estudiado, su generalización se deberá verificar y corroborar con otros casos. Se encontró que la Comisión Nacional del Agua controla todos los asuntos del Consejo de Cuenca del Alto Noroeste, y la escasa participación social lograda es inducida y promovida desde arriba. Se concluye que los consejos de cuenca de México carecen de autoridad para llevar a cabo la gestión del agua.

This article presents the institutional and legal evolution of urban water supply services in Mexico during the second half of the twentieth century. It sets out a brief scheme for public policy analysis and, in its main part, proposes three main stages urban water policy has been through. These stages are based on the institutional arrangement that has characterized water supply in each period. The first is a centralist stage of federal water boards that prevailed from 1948 to 1983, later comes the stage of municipalization started in 1983 when the service was assigned to local governments, and, in third place, the article reviews the promotion of autonomous and business-like operating units undertaken by the National Water Commission in 1989. In the last part, the article reviews the troubles posed by private sector participation in urban water services and the mishap it faced because of the economic 1995 crisis.

Objective: to examine which of the elements of the water treatment plants installation strategy proposed in the Sonora River Trust were effectively executed. Methodology: though fieldwork and documentary compilation, plants’ operation quality was assessed and their location was contrasted with the results of the Trust’s water quality monitoring. Results: Some of the most contaminated sites do not have a water treatment plant. Some of the installed plants are not the most technically suitable and have operation’s shortcomings. Limitations: although information on the plants was requested several times to the corresponding agencies, they only sent some technical characteristics. Value: high empirical value for the mining disasters recovery components study. Conclusions: in addition to the fact that in the most polluted places there are not plants, there is an incorrect treatment plants implementation and insufficient disaster recovery stage follow-up.