water Article Challenges of Water Sensitive Cities in Mexico: The Case of the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara Jose Arturo Gleason 1, * and Cesar Casiano Flores 2,3   Citation: Gleason, J.A.; Casiano Flores, C. Challenges of Water Sensitive Cities in Mexico: The Case of the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara. Water 2021, 13, 601. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/w13050601 Academic Editor: Robert Sitzenfrei Received: 2 February 2021 Accepted: 20 February 2021 Published: 25 February 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Techniques for Construction, University Centre for the Arts, Architecture and Design, University of Guadalajara, 44250 Guadalajara, Mexico 2 Public Governance Institute, Parkstraat 45—box 3609, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; cesar.casiano@kuleuven.be 3 Insituto de Investigaciones en Medio Ambiente Xabier Gorostiaga S.J, Universidad Iberioamericana-Puebla, 72820 San Andres Cholula, Mexico * Correspondence: arturo.gleason@cuaad.udg.mx; Tel.: +52-3313-3117-12 Abstract: Mexico is currently facing important water management challenges. Cities in the country are facing water scarcity and at the same time they struggle with floods during the raining season. The water sensitive urban design (WSUD) approach has proved to be helpful around the world in tackling urban water challenges such as floods or water scarcity. The WSUD approach highlights the role of both the water cycle and the water utilities systems, when transitioning towards a water sensitive stage. Therefore, the objective of this research is to demonstrate the relevance for cities of a WSUD approach by analyzing the current situation of the water cycle and the water utility in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara (MAG). This research proposes a case study approach. Within our case of study, we focused on the water cycle and the water utilities system (Sistema Intermunicipal de los Servicios de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado (SIAPA)) and ask two questions: (1) What are the causes of water scarcity and flooding in the MAG? and (2) What are the proposals to solve these problems under a WSUD approach? By answering these questions, we identified that the water management in the MAG corresponds to a single purpose infrastructure. This type of water management is common in developing cities and does not contribute to solve the problems of water scarcity and floods. The water supply policy is based only on the construction of large dams disregarding the storage and use of rainwater, and reuse of greywater, and water-conservation devices. In order to transition towards a water sensitive stage, changes in the water policy need to take place and a WSUD approach that includes multi-purpose infrastructure, should be considered. Keywords: water sensitive urban design; water sensitive city, water cycle; water utilities; water scarcity; flooding 1. Introduction Currently, urban areas worldwide are facing numerous water scarcity challenges such as delivery of drinking water supply, wastewater production, and depleted aquifers [1], and at the same time water urban flood recurrences are increasing, due to factors such as climate change, population growth, changes in land use and aging or inadequate infrastructures [1]. The analysis of both scarcity and flood challenges in urban areas is important because while cities cover just 1% of the Earth’s surface, they produce 80% of the GDP and host 54% of the population [2]. Cities are complex systems where various actors and processes interact through geographic, institutional and governance scales [3]. This complexity creates challenges when implementing strategies to solve water scarcity and flood challenges. Their solution and climate change adaptation require strategic investments to deliver sustainable solutions in the long-term [4]. The type of adaptation depends on the cultural, technological, economic, and governance contexts [5]. Water 2021, 13, 601. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13050601 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water