Committee for managing the risk by Faults and Cracks due to subsidence in Aguascalientes State, México

Abstract

Land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal has been developing in the Aguascalientes Valley since the 1980's. Even though the affected area is close to 900 km2, and the sinking velocity is up to 10 cm yr−1 in some zones, the main concern for valley inhabitants and local government is the occurrence of subsidence-related cracks and failures, which are developed in the surface terrain and damage buildings and infrastructure. In order to face this problem, the state government of Aguascalientes set up in 1994 an interinstitutional committee which is integrated by four working groups: (1) technical studies, (2) equilibrium of the aquifer, (3) normativity and cartography, and (4) attention to damaged infrastructure. Each working group integrates several public and private agencies whose activities are influenced by the in-progress subsidence process. Federal, state and municipal water management agencies, as well as government bureaus of urban planning and public works are included in the committee. Also, the state university and some professional state associations such as civil engineers and earth sciences engineers are actively involved in the committee, along with the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics, which is the federal agency addressed to produce official cartography in Mexico. Some agencies participate not only in one working group but in those that fall in their interest, therefore, many agencies are contributing to several working groups objectives. In this work, we present a summarize of the work developed for the committee since its creation, and about its evolution and current organization. It is presented an analysis and discussion of the changes that the committee has experienced in their objectives and applied methods to address the evolution of the fissuring problem, and how their results have helped to prevent and to mitigate the land subsidence effects. Also, the mechanisms implemented to inform to the general public about the subsidence process and its effects; besides of the expected challenges that the committee will enfaces in the near and far future. This work intends to share the experiences of the committee hoping to be useful to other government agencies and earth scientists dealing with the land subsidence problem.