The Green Party in the Senate supported the approval of the new General Water Law, considering it a guarantee of the human right to water. Its objective is to regulate access to this resource and prioritize human consumption, establish clear obligations for authorities at all three levels of government, address the demands of the agricultural sector, and protect vulnerable communities.
“While families face water restrictions and must purchase water at exorbitant prices from tanker trucks, powerful landowners control water volumes equivalent to the needs of entire cities,” reads the website of Mexico’s Green Party.
Green Party legislators emphasized that the bill creates the National Water Strategy, strengthens rainwater harvesting, establishes clear rules for water concessions, and defines water-related crimes to punish the diversion and theft of water, ensuring transparency, efficient use, and water security for productive sectors and low-income families.
In the same vein, Senator Rocío Corona Nakamura stated that the water reform is necessary to end water hoarding, which has become a business for a select few. She pointed out that while families endure water rationing and buy water from trucks at exorbitant prices, powerful local bosses and political networks control volumes equivalent to those of entire cities.
She also highlighted the creation of the National Water Reserve Fund to distribute recovered water volumes and asserted that the new law protects small producers, punishes the theft and diversion of water resources, and puts an end to rigged concessions.
Senator Gilberto Hernández highlighted that the reform incorporates tools to prevent pollution, restore water bodies, and ensure concessions are granted based on sound environmental criteria. He also celebrated that this law strengthens transparency, social participation, and conservation, guaranteeing a sustainable future for the country’s biodiversity and communities.
For her part, Senator Juanita Guerra Mena of Morelos stated that the reform recognizes the rights of domestic users, farmers, and industry; and affirmed that water must be managed equitably, with citizen participation and accountability, prioritizing water security and a healthy life for all.
Senator Maki Ortiz Domínguez presented an amendment to Article 30 of the National Water Law to determine what is being discharged into water bodies. She emphasized that the registry provides discharge volumes but does not include information on their composition, thus underscoring the importance of making this data transparent to mitigate water pollution.
Similarly, Senator Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín, representing Yucatán, presented a reservation to the law so that the Mexican State is solely responsible for regulating water use, eliminating the system of transferring rights between private individuals, and ensuring that any concession not used for the authorized purposes returns to Conagua, as well as guaranteeing a fair, orderly, and publicly controlled distribution and use of the resource.
