Summary:  Cutzamala System

Country:  Mexico

Overview:  The Cutzamala System evolved from an earlier aqueduct system that supplied Mexico City (Lerma System, 1951) and a plan to develop a major hydropower system west of the city (Miguel Aleman Hydroelectric System).  In 1976, the plan for how to use the water mostly for hydropower evolved into the Cutzamala System for delivering water to Mexico City, thus supplementing water supplied by the existing Lerma System. The Cutzamala System includes a complex network of canals, tunnels, and pipelines, 6 pumping plants, 11 dams, 10 reservoirs, a major treatment plant, 2 storage tanks along the route, and 4 storage tanks at the terminus in Mexico City.

Initial Construction (Years):  1982 - 1993

Managing Agency:  Comision Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA), Mexico

Major Source:  Tuxpan River, El Bosque Res., Lake Avandaro, Villa Victoria Res.

Major Destination:  Mexico City 

Construction Type:  Mixed (Canal/Pipeline/Tunnel)

Length (Tuxpan Reservoir to Terminus Point):  222 km (138 mi) 

Maximum Capacity:  790 million m3/yr (CONAGUA parte 1, 2015)

Average Transport:  ZMVM (Zona Metropolitana del Valle de Mexico/Distrito Federal [Mexico City]): 292 million m3/yr (9.3 m3/s); State of Mexico: 154 million m3/yr (4.9 m3/s), with 25.2 million m3/yr (0.8 m3/s) diverted to ZMT (Zona Metropolitana del Toluca [City of Toluca]) (CONAGUA parte 1, 2015)

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Creative Commons License (CC-BY):  This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

How to cite this work:   Chaney, P.L.  2020.  Cutzamala System AU. [Google Earth File].  The IBT Water Project. https://www.auburn.edu/cosam/faculty/geosciences/chaney/ibtwater/cutzamala.htm

References

CONAGUA 2005. Systema Cutzamala: Agua Para Milliones de Mexicanos. Mexico. http://www.conagua.gob.mx/conagua07/publicaciones/publicaciones/sistema-cutzamala.pdf. Last Accessed: 13 Aug 2020.

CONAGUA, World Bank, 2015. Cutzamala Diagnostico Integral: Diagnostico para el manejo integral de las sbcuencas Tuxpan, El Bosque, Ixtapan del Oro, Valle de Bravo, Colorines-Chilesdo y Villa Victori pertencientes al Sustema Cutzamala (Parte 1). Washington D.C. https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/110933/Cutzamala_Diagnostico_integral_parte_1.pdf.  Last Accessed: 13 Aug 2020.

CONAGUA, World Bank, 2015. Cutzamala Diagnostico Integral: Diagnostico para el manejo integral de las sbcuencas Tuxpan, El Bosque, Ixtapan del Oro, Valle de Bravo, Colorines-Chilesdo y Villa Victori pertencientes al Sustema Cutzamala (Parte 2). Washington D.C. https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/110934/Cutzamala_Diagnostico_integral_parte_2.pdf.  Last Accessed: 13 Aug 2020.

CONAGUA, World Bank 2015. A shared vison of the Cutzamala System: A model basin in water management. Mexico. http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/751831468182346389/pdf/96496-WP-PUBLIC-Box391453B-WB-zamalaA4-CMYK-may11-PUBLIC.pdf.  Last Accessed: 13 Aug 2020.

CONAGUA No Date. Proyecto ejectivo de la 3ra Linea de Conduccion de la Torre de Oscilacion No. 5 al Portal de entrada del Tunel Analco-San Jose. http://sinat.semarnat.gob.mx/dgiraDocs/documentos/mex/estudios/2011/15EM2011H0034.pdf.  Last Accessed: 13 Aug 2020.

jesselibra. 2018. The Cutzamala System. [Web Mapping Application]. ArcGIS.com. Created: Dec 11, 2017. Updated: Jan 2, 2018. https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=925b754ec2f649fb8eb4403bb8671676. Last Accessed: 13 Aug 2020.

Lankao, P.R. 2010. Water in Mexico City: what will climate change bring to its history of water-related hazards and vulnerabilities? Environment and Urbanization 22(1): 157-178.

Rhoda, R. and T. Burton. 2013. Where does Mexico City get its water? Geo-Mexico, the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. ISSN 1927-1549. https://geo-mexico.com/?p=9043. Last Accessed: 13 Aug 2020.

Tortajada, C. and E. Castelan. 2003. Water management for a megacity: Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Ambio 32(2): 124-129.

Tortajada, Cecilia. 2006. Who Has Access to Water? Case Study of Mexico City Metropolitan Area. UNDP Human Development Report Office, Occasional Paper 2006/16.

Tortajada, C. 2006. Water management in Mexico City Metropolitan Area. In Water management in megacities. C. Tortajada, O. Varis, J. Lundquist, and A.K. Biswas, eds. Routledge, New York.

Tortajada, C. 2013. Water management in Mexico City Metropolitan Area. In Water management in megacities. C. Tortajada, O. Varis, J. Lundquist, and A.K. Biswas. Routledge, New York.

Wikipedia Contributors. 2020. Water management in Greater Mexico City. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Last edited: 29 June 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_management_in_Greater_Mexico_City.  Last accessed: 13 Aug 2020.

Personal Communications

Special Thanks to Fred Barker, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (Retired).  Fred guided multi-day field trips of the L.A. Aqueduct for 15 years during his service as an engineer with LADWP.  

Request for Assistance:  Missing and conflicting information is an ongoing challenge in this project. Although significant effort has been made to map the IBTs main route and key features, some important details may have been missed. We apologize in advance for any errors and request your assistance in making necessary revisions. 

Last Updated: 01 April 2021