Canul-Macario et al. (2026) Quantifying resilience for storm drainage management in karst environments with shallow water table

Identification

• Journal: Hydrology research
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-02-21
• Authors: César Canul-Macario, Roger Pacheco-Castro, Roger González-Herrera, Miguel J Villasuso-Pino, Ismael A. Sánchez y Pinto, Paulo Salles
• DOI: 10.2166/nh.2026.051

Research Groups

• Comisión Nacional del Agua, Dirección Local Quintana Roo, Chetumal Quintana Roo, México
• Laboratorio Nacional de Resiliencia Costera, México
• Laboratorio de Ingeniería y Procesos Costeros, Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sisal, México
• Investigadoras e Investigadores por México, SECIHTI, CDMX, México
• Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, México
• Odiser Empresarial SA de CV – Geohidrología e Hidráulica Costera, IC, Yucatán, México

Short Summary

This study quantifies the resilience of storm drainage systems (SDSs) in karst environments with shallow water tables, revealing that traditional SDSs in Merida, Mexico, experience reduced efficiency for approximately 24 days and remain vulnerable to failure for up to 156 days after extreme hydrometeorological events.

Objective

• To define drainage efficiency thresholds for storm drainage systems (SDSs) in karstic aquifers with shallow water tables.
• To analyze the temporal behavior of the water table and SDSs' response before, during, and after extreme hydrometeorological events (EHEs).
• To quantify the duration EHEs cause SDSs to decrease efficiency and fail, providing technical elements for management strategies.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Merida City, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, focusing on urban areas with elevations below 7 meters above sea level. The study area is located between 89.75° W and 89.50° W longitude, and 20.75° N and 21.25° N latitude.
• Temporal Scale: Historical analysis of EHEs from 1988 to 2020, with detailed monitoring of piezometric levels and rainfall from September 2019 to November 2021.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Jacob (1947) model and Driscoll (1986) conceptual model for hydraulic behavior of wells; ecological resilience concepts (Holling 1973, Folke 2006) for quantifying system response.
• Data sources:
  • Historical records and reports from academic institutions, government agencies (CONAGUA), and private consultants.
  • Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (CEM v 3.0) from INEGI (2021a).
  • Hydraulic injection tests performed on 79 rainwater drainage wells, measuring water-level response with pressure dataloggers.
  • Piezometric head time series from seven monitoring wells (CONAGUA, LANRESC, Odiser Empresarial) equipped with pressure loggers.
  • Precipitation data from the University Atmospheric Observatories Network (RUOA 2021) meteorological stations.
  • Groundwater elevation referenced to the INEGI (2021b) passive national geodetic network.

Main Results

• Traditional SDSs in Merida may experience reduced drainage efficiency for 24 ± 5 days after EHEs.
• SDSs remain vulnerable to failure for up to 156 ± 20 days after EHEs due to sustained elevated piezometric levels.
• The drainage efficiency threshold (hcr), defined as the minimal distance between terrain and piezometric levels for adequate drainage, is between 1 meter and 1.8 meters.
• During EHEs (e.g., Hurricanes Cristobal and Gamma-Delta in 2020), aquifer piezometric levels rose above the mean ground elevation (4.76 meters above sea level), causing "karst flash floods" in low-lying urban areas.
• After EHEs, a residual groundwater level increment of approximately 1 meter persisted for several months compared to pre-EHE levels, indicating incomplete aquifer recovery.
• The resilience index to EHEs (RIEHE) ranged from 0.76 to 1, reflecting partial recovery of piezometric levels after consecutive EHEs.
• Resilience rates: The flood resilience rate (@Rf) was between 0.03 and 0.3 meters per day during initial depletion, while the EHE resilience rate (@REHE) was between 0.01 and 0.03 meters per day during the 6-month recession period.
• "Karst flash flood" areas were identified for the first time in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Contributions

• Quantified ecological resilience times (flood resilience time and EHE resilience time) for storm drainage systems in karst aquifers under extreme meteorological events.
• Proposed and defined operational hydraulic capacity thresholds for wells used as storm drainage systems.
• Introduced a novel and transferable methodology for evaluating SDS resilience in karst aquifers with shallow water tables.
• Challenged the traditional paradigm of high drainage efficiency in karstic SDSs, particularly in shallow water table settings.
• Identified "karst flash flood" areas in the Yucatan Peninsula for the first time.
• Provided quantitative elements for decision-making and management strategies for SDSs in similar hydrogeological contexts, advocating for combined grey and green-blue engineering solutions.

Funding

• SECIHTI (formerly CONAHCyT) Postdoctoral Research Program 2021 (for C.C.-M.)
• Investigadoras e Investigadores por México Program, Project No. 1146 (for R.P.-C.)
• National Coastal Resilience Laboratory (LANRESC), Project No. 315908
• Odiser Empresarial Inc. (through Miguel Villasuso-Pino)

Citation

@article{CanulMacario2026Quantifying,
  author = {Canul-Macario, César and Pacheco-Castro, Roger and González-Herrera, Roger and Villasuso-Pino, Miguel J and Pinto, Ismael A. Sánchez y and Salles, Paulo},
  title = {Quantifying resilience for storm drainage management in karst environments with shallow water table},
  journal = {Hydrology research},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.2166/nh.2026.051},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2026.051}
}