Sustainable Water Management Solutions for Large Cities (Proceedings of symposium S2 held during the Seventh IAHS Scientific Assembly at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, April 2005). IAHS Publ. 293, 2005, 212-220

Abstract After the inauguration of Mexico City’s Deep Drainage System (DDS) in 1975, the wastewater drainage capacity increased substantially. The original design assumed DDS operation during the rainy season, to avoid flooding of the city, and inspection during the dry season, when urban wastewater would drain through surface channels. Over-exploitation of the aquifer beneath the city to increase potable water supply caused differential subsidence of the ground, which in turn decreased the capacity of surface channels from 60 to 7 m³ s^-1. This situation forced the continuous operation of the DDS, interrupting its inspection for ten years. Given this context, added to construction delays for important drainage works, it is imperative to update the design, to comply with the city’s Drainage Master Plan. In this paper we present the results of hydraulic simulations and the resulting proposal of changes to the system and its operation to permit scheduled yearly inspections.

Key words deep drainage; drainage simulation; Mexico; urban drainage