Water Management History and Recent Developments
Mexico has a long and well-established tradition on water resources management (WRM) which started approximately in the 1930s when the country began investing heavily in water storage facilities and groundwater development to expand irrigation and supply water to the rapidly increasing population.
The 1934 Código Agrario, promulgated during the Cárdenas administration (1934–1940), granted the federal government powers to define the “public interest” to which water could be harnessed. By virtue of such legislation, between the 1930s and 1970s, the rural community and ejido sector were subject to direct federal control over water. Private landowners, on the other hand, enjoyed the benefits of federally subsidized irrigation infrastructure and guaranteed market prices. Over time, large landowners became highly capitalized, while small land owners, by the 1970s, were suffering from the effects of water monopolies.
In the 1970s, the Mexican government entered into a tripartite agreement with the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program to prepare the 1975 National Water Plan (NWP), which identified the need to enact a New Water Law (NWL) and a National Water Authority (ANA) as well as decentralize responsibilities and promote water user participation in operational and maintenance (O&M). The NWP spurred a significant institutional development and infrastructural achievements: (i) the federal government transfer responsibilities for water supply and sanitation to municipalities and states in 1983, (ii) the Mexican Institute of Water Technology was established in 1986, (iii) the National Commission on Water (CONAGUA) was established in 1988, and (iv) in 1989, the first Basin Council was created in Lerma Chapala, incorporating water users from multiple sectors.
During the 1990s, there was a rapid groundwater development and aquifer pumping for combined agricultural, urban, and industrial demand. Also the federal government decentralized responsibility for large irrigation infrastructure to autonomous agencies (irrigation districts).
In 1992, Mexico adopted the Ley de Aguas Nacionales (LAN), which contained specific provisions for the role of the CONAGUA, the structure and functioning of river basin councils, public participation in water management, etc. In 1993 the Cutzamala system, one of the largest pumping schemes in the world, was completed. The Cutzamala system pumps 19 cubic meters per second (670 cu ft/s) of water into the Mexico City metropolitan area.
In 1997 the first technical groundwater committee was created to manage an overexploited aquifer in the state of Guanajuato.
With the 2004 Revision of the National Water Law, the thirteen decentralized CNA regions would become basin organizations serving as the technical arm of more broad-based basin councils that incorporate civil society interests including the private sector and citizens’ groups.
Read more about this topic: Water Resources Management In Mexico
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