Water by truck in Mexico City

Abstract

Supply of water to urban households by tanker truck in developing and advanced developing countries is often associated with early stages of urbanization or with the private markets on which water vendors serve households not connected to the piped network. Despite Mexico City's high household network coverage rate and recent improvements in billing, collection, and network maintenance and upgrading, the public sector supplies bulk water to households by truck in response to persistent water scarcity and insufficient network service levels in some areas. Analysis of the public trucked water delivery services in two of Mexico City's sixteen delegations-or districts-shows two distinct paths to improved trucked service performance in a shared new environment of democratic governance. Although both delegation administrations are led by the same political party, in one delegation officials pursue accountability in the public trucked water service through an evolving set of new internal business practices. In the other delegation, organized residents and elected politicians support service accountability through co- production with delegation authorities and external oversight. This thesis asks how and why two distinct models of accountability in trucked water service delivery operate across two Mexico City delegations, and asks what the implications of the distinct accountability models are for improved household access to water.