ABSTRACT
The state of Zacatecas, located in middle of Mexico, has a semi-arid climate with an annual average rainfall of 496 mm (EAM, 2016). The city of Zacatecas and its surrounding urban areas have serious problems with its drinking water supply. Currently, the supply is underground so it is pumped from more than 100 m deep in part of the aquifer, which has caused some wells to not meet the quality parameters to be potable. Therefore, feasibility studies involving new sources have been carried out. The Milpillas dam project, located in the San Juan River basin, uses surface water through the construction of a dam, a 180-km aqueduct and a pumping plant. The goal of the project is to meet a demand of 1.3 m3 / s, in addition to an enviromental flow. RiverWare was used to perform a simulation of the Milpillas reservoir with a monthly model that includes a historical record of 59 years, the annual average runoff in the basin is 62.3 Hm3. As a result of the simulation there are several periods with shortages, due to the prolonged periods of drought. Other alternatives are analyzed in order to improve the warranty of the system. An alternative is the construction of another dam downstream whose primary function is to mitigate the deficits for which an operation policy is proposed based on the empty space of the Milpillas dam. Another alternative would be the relocation of the dam to the site called “El Infierno”. For this final case, the price of water per cubic meter is lower despite the increase in the pumping load and the length of the aqueduct due to the fact that up to 2.5 m3 / s can be extracted.

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