"Groundwater has become an alternative water supply for various sectors of the population and the economy, and its extraction is increasing worldwide. The water poverty index (WPI) is a holistic tool that enables the establishment of links between poverty, social marginalization, environmental integrity, water availability and health. The index includes five components – water resources, access, capacity, environment and use – which are evaluated on a scale of 0 to 100. The objective of this research is to calculate the WPI by applying remote perception techniques to the environment component. Through multi-temporal analysis, we estimate the variability of soil cover in a semi-arid area of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, where the available surface water and groundwater is mainly for agriculture. The overall result for the studied area was a WPI of 56, which reflects contradictions in the management of the resource that is abundant."