Página 68 - CYAD Anuario 2011

Antecedentes históricos de la sustentabilidad hidráulica... 67
ABSTRACT
Since antiquity, water is an indispensable element in the selection of a site and location of human settlements. Popu-
lation growth has forced a development of major hydraulic infrastructure in the urbanization process. like Roman
aqueducts that adapted and transformed topography to conduct water by gravity. Harvesting, conduction, filtering
and storage of rain water have been some of the most widely used human strategies to satisfy water supply at a local
level, using buildings’ patios and roofs. A third strategy has been the use of natural topography to storage runoffwater
for its yearly use.
Mexico City’ Metropolitan Area has extended its borders beyond its basin towards other municipalities in the State
of Mexico. The large urban area extends its borders towards the north into municipalities that used to have five large
lakes in the prehispanic era. These lakes were used for transportation, food production and water supply.
Little has been done to document the history of the first hydraulic systems of the initial human settlements and the
conservation of the sanitary condition of the region’s hydrological system. None-the less Mexico City’s metropolitan
area continues to grow, as in many other cities of this country, without a full understanding of water usage as a vital
development element, a powerful force, a weather cooling element, a basic component in the soil´s composition, a
landscape determinant and a potential force for economic development.
In a place like Mexico City, with its favorable climatic conditions and extraordinary historic legacy, there are still out-
standing examples of high agricultural yields and flower production in the “chinampa” or floating garden. This system
exist in the remaining lake territories of the south of the city like Xochimilco, San Gregorio, San Luis Tlaxialtemalco,
Tláhuac y Mixquic with 25 Km2 of “chinampas” and 140 Km of water channels. To study hydraulic systems through
history, allows us to acquire a water culture that involves solutions, warrantees supply and keeps the quality of this
valuable resource.