Mexico's water authority invests in river modelling software

Mexico's national water authority, the Comisión Nacional del Agua (CAN) launched a major modelling project to significantly improve the country's ability to anticipate serious river flooding. The authority is investing in multiple copies of InfoWorks RS, the river system modelling package from the UK company Wallingford Software, to help the government predict with greater accuracy the effect and timing of a rise in river levels after rainfall. The river system modelling package will help the authority advise local people who live in high risk areas.

The floods of 1998 and 1999 cost hundreds of lives and hundreds of thousands homeless in Mexico. Each Fall, the hurricane season brings heavy rains that negatively affect human lives and the economy. Although changing land use has contributed to increased flooding, Mexico's river structure creates a natural vulnerability to flooding.