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Abstract

As the water sector has become, in many countries, an strategic and priority sector for economic development, a series of national challenges need to be faced. Priorities in Mexico (an economically high-income country) are focused on (1) progressively guaranteeing the human rights to water and sanitation access; (2) the efficient use of water to contribute to the sustainable development of the productive sectors; (3) reducing the vulnerability of the population to floods and droughts; (4) preserving the integrity of the water cycle in order to guarantee the hydrological services provided by basins and aquifers; and (5) improving the conditions for water governance in order to strengthen decision-making and fight corruption. We present a scientometric analysis of historically published scientific articles (past 20 years) related to groundwater management, quantitative and qualitative deterioration in water quality, and effective water monitoring and measurement in the context of hydrological and hydrogeological challenges facing the water sector in Mexico. We state that changes in the actual conceptual and paradigm of physically divided surface and groundwater systems that remain in the water sector in Mexico requires the vision of an interconnected water system, physically, socially, and economically.