Background and Relevance of the Mentioned Individuals
In a significant move, over 240 academics, students, and activists have called for the complete replacement of Mexico’s existing water law during the VIII Congress of the Social Researchers Network on Water (RISSA). This comes as President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo submitted initiatives to Congress on October 1st to enact a General Water Law and reform the National Water Law. The urgency stems from the belief that the current law is rooted in neoliberal principles, contributing to Mexico’s water crisis.
Key Demands from the Scientific and Social Community
The RISSA experts issued a “Declaration for Water Justice,” demanding the repeal of the 1992 National Water Law and the creation of a completely new General Water Law, focusing on equitable access and sustainability.
Principal Demands
- Limiting “Water Lords”: The declaration calls for transparency and limits on over-concession granted by the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) to reallocate water for priority uses like supply, food sovereignty, and ecosystem conservation.
- Reviewing High-Impact Projects: The experts urge the evaluation of initiatives like the National Hydric Plan and Mexico Plan, which propose large-scale hydrological projects with significant socioenvironmental impacts in water-stressed regions.
- Banning Extractive Practices: The declaration demands the prohibition of toxic mining and fracking, as well as cancellation of projects affecting the water cycle, such as Pemex’s strategic plan in the Huasteca Hidalguense region.
- Protecting and Restoring Ecosystems: Prioritizing river, lake, and wetland protection and restoration, with a focus on ecological sanitation of critical basins like Atoyac, Lerma-Santiago, and Tula, and holding industrial polluters accountable.
- Transparency and Democracy: The declaration calls for democratizing water management, making information on concessions, allocations, and water quality publicly available in clear formats, while strengthening autonomous water oversight bodies.
The signatories emphasize the growing voice of water defenders and knowledge-holders—indigenous peoples, farmers, peri-urban populations, academia, and organized civil society—advocating for water protection as a vital common good. Their goal is to ensure equitable and sustainable access, sanitation, restoration, with environmentally-sustained and socially-consensus-based proposals.
Researchers’ Commitment
The academic and research signatories have also pledged active participation in transforming Mexico’s water management, including:
- Building Science with Social Awareness: Developing and disseminating social research findings on water issues, contributing to understanding and transforming problems through multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary approaches.
- Promoting a New Management Model: Collaboratively constructing a new water management model that transcends neoliberal paradigms and prioritizes the common good, protecting indigenous communities’ rights.
- Strengthening the Common Good: Defending water sustainability and sovereignty as a common good, bolstering small-scale irrigation, seasonal agriculture, and artisanal fishing.
- Fighting Corruption and Participation: Combating corruption in water management and strengthening autonomous water oversight bodies as a citizen strategy for accountability and participatory management.
Sheinbaum’s Initiative: Legal Context
The community’s demands come at a crucial time, coinciding with President Sheinbaum’s proposal to reform the water legal framework. According to authorities on October 1st, the government’s initiative aims to modify the law to establish water as a strategic national asset under exclusive state control, allowing concessions but never commercialization.
“With this law, we regain this great natural resource for the nation and return to the population an essential right for life and development,” declared the president.
CONAGUA head Efraín Morales López explained that the reform aims to consolidate water as a human right and redefine it, moving away from considering it a commodity. The proposal includes measures such as:
- Elimination of private transmission of concessions.
- Prohibition of unauthorized use changes for concessions.
- Creation of a reliable National Water Registry.
- Harsher penalties for illegal use, including 1-10 years imprisonment for water crimes and forfeiture of assets.
The debate now centers on Congress: whether Mexico will opt for a profound reform of the existing legal framework, as proposed by the Presidency, or complete replacement of the 1992 law, as demanded by scientists and water advocates to ensure water justice and sustainability.
Contrast with Water Budget
A critical aspect for achieving reform objectives and meeting social demands is the water budget.
Experts point out that funding for CONAGUA and the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA) has experienced an annual real decrease of 4.5%, leaving them with 36,689 million pesos.
This reduction in resources coincides with a focus on large-scale infrastructure, primarily benefiting urban areas and productive sectors. However, disaster prevention, research, and attention to vulnerable communities—crucial elements for equitable and sustainable water management—are being neglected.
