Socio-hydro contributions of rainwater catchment systems in Guanajuato, Mexico ( in Spanish)

Access to drinking water in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico, is an unresolved issue, especially in the State’s rural communities far from the centers of development. As an option to the strategy of piped water, which requires high levels of investment to guarantee the supply to the population, rainwater catchment has become an institutional alternative that intends to partially address this social debt. The objective of this article is to show the virtues of this practice in homes that have benefited with a rainwater catchment system provided by the State government. The paper is based on research that used interviews and non-participant observation for information gathering. Among the results obtained is a positive social perception linked to the multiple benefits associated with the collection systems. It is concluded that it is necessary to expand the scale of replication of said systems accompanied by information, training (environmental education and technical notions of the catchment system) and monitoring to consolidate among households a practice that offers social, environmental and economic benefits.