Author(s)

EDITH MONTESINOS PEDRO, JAZMÍN CARBAJAL-ÁVILA, MARIANA MARTÍNEZ-CASTREJÓN

Abstract

This article analyses the structural strategies adopted by residents of the Francisco Villa and Ciudad Renacimiento neighbourhoods in Acapulco, Guerrero, to mitigate water shortages during the emergency caused by Hurricane Otis. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including 111 surveys (24 in Francisco Villa and 87 in Ciudad Renacimiento) and 15 semi-structured interviews conducted in November 2023 and February 2024. Additionally, 28 news articles between April 2020 and January 2024, relating to water management in these areas before and after the impact of Hurricane Otis, were collected. By analysing these news articles, it was possible to reconstruct the everyday situation of water scarcity in the studied neighbourhoods prior to Otis. Based on descriptive statistics from the surveys and content analysis of post-Otis news articles, we identified the population’s emerging strategies to address the water shortage following Hurricane Otis. The main findings include: (i) a perception that the municipality distributes water inequitably; (ii) water scarcity after Hurricane Otis due to power outage and the population’s dependence on the municipal network; and (iii) as the population’s main strategies, including a socially organized effort to distribute water from private wells – converted into community wells – and to reuse greywater.

Keywords

emerging structural strategies, hydrosocial management, water reclamation, water scarcity