Urbanization and water stress in Latin America: correlational and temporal analysis in selected countries during 2020–2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70577/asce.v5i2.910Keywords:
Latin America, Sustainable development, Hydrology, Urban planning, Water resourcesAbstract
Rapid urban growth in Latin America has increased pressure on water resources and created greater difficulties in ensuring adequate water supply. The uncontrolled expansion of cities, coupled with population growth and limitations in hydraulic infrastructure, has intensified water stress in several countries of the region. This situation highlights the need to understand how urbanization influences water availability and management. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between water stress, urbanization, renewable water resources, and per capita reservoir capacity in selected Latin American countries. The research employed a quantitative, correlational, and longitudinal approach. Data from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru were studied, obtained from official and open databases. The analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression using R Studio software. Mexico exhibited the highest level of water stress, associated with urban growth and high water demand. Bolivia and Ecuador registered the lowest levels due to greater water resource availability. The results confirmed that urban concentration increases pressure on water resources, while renewable water availability contributes to reducing water stress. It was concluded that urbanization is the main factor related to water stress in Latin America. Differences between countries depend on natural water availability, population density, and water management capacity—fundamental factors for regional water sustainability.
Downloads
References
Abraha, T., Tibebu, A., & Ephrem, G. (2022). Rapid Urbanization and the Growing Water Risk Challenges in Ethiopia: The Need for Water Sensitive Thinking. Frontiers in Water, 4, 890229. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.890229
Ahmadi, E., McLellan, B., Mohammadi-Ivatloo, B., & Tezuka, T. (2020). The Role of Renewable Energy Resources in Sustainability of Water Desalination as a Potential Fresh-Water Source: An Updated Review. Sustainability, 12(13), 5233. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135233
Amparo-Salcedo, M., Pérez-Gimeno, A., & Navarro-Pedreño, J. (2025). Water Security Under Climate Change: Challenges and Solutions Across 43 Countries. Water, 17(5), 633. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17050633
Arya, S., Bhatt, G. D., Pandey, M., & Chaudhary, D. (2025). Water Security in South America. En K. D. Bahukhandi, M. Kumar, D. P. Panday, & T. G. G. Chaminda (Eds.), Water Scarcity Management (1.a ed., pp. 151-168). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394176748.ch9
Bănăduc, D., Simić, V., Cianfaglione, K., Barinova, S., Afanasyev, S., Öktener, A., McCall, G., Simić, S., & Curtean-Bănăduc, A. (2022). Freshwater as a Sustainable Resource and Generator of Secondary Resources in the 21st Century: Stressors, Threats, Risks, Management and Protection Strategies, and Conservation Approaches. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(24), 16570. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416570
Borah, G. (2025). Urban Water Stress: Climate Change Implications for Water Supply in Cities. Water Conservation Science and Engineering, 10(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41101-025-00344-5
Bravo-Cadena, J., Pavón, N. P., Balvanera, P., Sánchez-Rojas, G., & Razo-Zarate, R. (2021). Water Availability–Demand Balance under Climate Change Scenarios in an Overpopulated Region of Mexico. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4), 1846. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041846
Chen, L., Yu, W., & Zhang, X. (2024). Spatio-temporal patterns of High-Quality urbanization development under water resource constraints and their key Drivers: A case study in the Yellow River Basin, China. Ecological Indicators, 166, 112441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.112441
Gómez Vidal, A., Machado, F., & Datshkovsky, D. (2021). Water and Sanitation Services in Latin America: Access and Quality Outlook. Inter-American Development Bank. https://doi.org/10.18235/0003285
Harvey, C. A., Pritts, A. A., Zwetsloot, M. J., Jansen, K., Pulleman, M. M., Armbrecht, I., Avelino, J., Barrera, J. F., Bunn, C., García, J. H., Isaza, C., Munoz-Ucros, J., Pérez-Alemán, C. J., Rahn, E., Robiglio, V., Somarriba, E., & Valencia, V. (2021). Transformation of coffee-growing landscapes across Latin America. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 41(5), 62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-021-00712-0
He, C., Liu, Z., Wu, J., Pan, X., Fang, Z., Li, J., & Bryan, B. A. (2021). Future global urban water scarcity and potential solutions. Nature Communications, 12(1), 4667. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25026-3
Hommes, L., Boelens, R., Bleeker, S., Duarte-Abadía, B., Stoltenborg, D., & Vos, J. (2020). Water governmentalities: The shaping of hydrosocial territories, water transfers and rural–urban subjects in Latin America. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 3(2), 399-422. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619886255
La Vigna, F. (2022). Review: Urban groundwater issues and resource management, and their roles in the resilience of cities. Hydrogeology Journal, 30(6), 1657-1683. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-022-02517-1
Liu, Z., Ying, J., He, C., Guan, D., Pan, X., Dai, Y., Gong, B., He, K., Lv, C., Wang, X., Lin, J., Liu, Y., & Bryan, B. A. (2024). Scarcity and quality risks for future global urban water supply. Landscape Ecology, 39(2), 10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01832-0
Makanda, K., Nzama, S., & Kanyerere, T. (2022). Assessing the Role of Water Resources Protection Practice for Sustainable Water Resources Management: A Review. Water, 14(19), 3153. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14193153
Mishra, B., Kumar, P., Saraswat, C., Chakraborty, S., & Gautam, A. (2021). Water Security in a Changing Environment: Concept, Challenges and Solutions. Water, 13(4), 490. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13040490
Niva, V., Cai, J., Taka, M., Kummu, M., & Varis, O. (2020). China’s sustainable water-energy-food nexus by 2030: Impacts of urbanization on sectoral water demand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 251, 119755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119755
Nowak, B., Ptak, M., Bartczak, J., & Sojka, M. (2022). Hydraulic Structures as a Key Component of Sustainable Water Management at the Catchment Scale—Case Study of the Rgilewka River (Central Poland). Buildings, 12(5), 675. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12050675
Ogwu, M. C., Merritt, H., & Martínez, M. O. (2026). Latin America’s Water Crisis: Pollution, Governance, and Community Responses. En M. C. Ogwu & S. Chibueze Izah (Eds.), Water Quality and Safety in the Global South (pp. 273-300). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-10602-5_10
Oñate-Valdivieso, F., Oñate-Paladines, A., & Collaguazo, M. (2022). Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Soil Impermeability and Its Impact on the Hydrology of An Urban Basin. Land, 11(2), 250. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020250
Rathore, U. B. P. S., Sajan, B., Singh, S. K., & Kanga, S. (2025). Urbanization and Water Stress: Analyzing the Impact of Rapid Urbanization on Local Water Resources and Proposing Sustainable Management Strategies. En S. K. Singh, S. Kanga, S. K. Gupta, B. Sajan, & D. D. Sharma (Eds.), Agri-informatics and Eco-friendly Innovations for a Secure Food Future (Vol. 14, pp. 353-374). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02118-2_14
Schulz, C., & Adams, W. M. (2021). In search of the good dam: Contemporary views on dam planning in Latin America. Sustainability Science, 16(1), 255-269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00870-2
Silva, C., & Vergara-Perucich, F. (2021). Determinants of urban sprawl in Latin America: Evidence from Santiago de Chile. SN Social Sciences, 1(8), 202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00197-4
Tayebi, S., Feizizadeh, B., Esfandi, S., Aliabbasi, B., Ali Alavi, S., & Shamsipour, A. (2022). A Neighborhood-Based Urban Water Carrying Capacity Assessment: Analysis of the Relationship between Spatial-Demographic Factors and Water Consumption Patterns in Tehran, Iran. Land, 11(12), 2203. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122203
Wang, D., Hubacek, K., Shan, Y., Gerbens-Leenes, W., & Liu, J. (2021). A Review of Water Stress and Water Footprint Accounting. Water, 13(2), 201. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020201
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jessica Mercedes Chacha Carrillo, Ramón Gabriel Aguilar Vega, Fredy Alejandro Aguirre Morales, Jose Ernesto Bejar Centeno, Mario Andrew Chang Gómez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Eres libre de:
- Compartir : copiar y redistribuir el material en cualquier medio o formato
- Adaptar : remezclar, transformar y desarrollar el material
- El licenciante no puede revocar estas libertades siempre y cuando usted cumpla con los términos de la licencia.
En los siguientes términos:
- Atribución : Debe otorgar el crédito correspondiente , proporcionar un enlace a la licencia e indicar si se realizaron cambios . Puede hacerlo de cualquier manera razonable, pero no de ninguna manera que sugiera que el licenciante lo respalda a usted o a su uso.
- No comercial : no puede utilizar el material con fines comerciales .
- CompartirIgual — Si remezcla, transforma o construye sobre el material, debe distribuir sus contribuciones bajo la misma licencia que el original.
- Sin restricciones adicionales : no puede aplicar términos legales ni medidas tecnológicas que restrinjan legalmente a otros hacer algo que la licencia permite.
