80% of Mexico’s Water is Stolen by Corporations & Politicians – Mexico Solidarity Media

Report on Water Resource Mismanagement in Mexico and its Conflict with Sustainable Development Goals

Executive Summary

This report details the systemic mismanagement and hoarding of water resources in Mexico, a practice that directly contravenes the nation’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Analysis of data from the National Water Commission (Conagua) and various research reports reveals that a small cohort of corporate entities and political figures monopolizes a significant portion of the country’s water concessions. This inequitable distribution undermines progress on several key SDGs, including SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). The current legal framework, rooted in the Salinas-era water law, facilitates this resource capture, leading to environmental degradation, fiscal impunity, and social injustice.

Impact on Sustainable Development Goals

The prevailing water management practices in Mexico present significant obstacles to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation): The concentration of water rights among 3,304 major concession holders, who control 22.3% of all water for consumptive use, directly threatens the goal of ensuring available and sustainable management of water for all. The overexploitation of 99 of the country’s 115 aquifers by these users is a critical failure in meeting Target 6.4, which calls for sustainable water withdrawals.
• SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities): The system disproportionately harms vulnerable populations, including Indigenous peoples, small-scale rural users, and agrarian communities whose water rights are often unregistered or ignored. This exacerbates inequalities, directly conflicting with the core principle of leaving no one behind.
• SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production): Major industrial users have been implicated in extensive water pollution, undermining Target 12.4 concerning the environmentally sound management of waste. The actions of companies in the mining, steel, and manufacturing sectors demonstrate unsustainable production patterns that deplete and contaminate vital water resources.
• SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions): Weak governance, regulatory loopholes, and corruption are central to the crisis. The fact that an estimated 80% of industrial water use is undeclared and unpaid highlights a failure of institutional accountability (Target 16.6). The granting of concessions to political figures demonstrates a clear conflict of interest that erodes public trust and the rule of law (Target 16.5).

Key Actors in Water Resource Exploitation

A small percentage of users, identified as “water millionaires,” are the primary beneficiaries of the current system. These actors are categorized into corporate and political groups.

Corporate Concession Holders

Large corporations across various sectors hold concessions for massive volumes of water, often leading to aquifer depletion and pollution.

• Industrial & Manufacturing: Coca-Cola, Lala, Kimberly-Clark, Herdez, Bachoco.
• Mining & Steel: Goldcorp (Peñasquito mine), Grupo México (Buenavista del Cobre), ArcelorMittal.
• Energy: CFE Generación and various private hydroelectric and geothermal entities.
• Tourism & Development: Cancun Airport, Hotelera Playa Paraíso, and other developers, particularly in Quintana Roo.
• Agribusiness: The Candelaria Irrigation Unit in Campeche extracts a volume equivalent to eight times the domestic use of the entire state.

Political and Governmental Influence

Numerous politicians and their families, across multiple political parties, have secured water concessions, primarily for agricultural use, which is exempt from payment. This represents a significant conflict of interest and undermines equitable resource management.

• Vicente Fox Quesada (Guanajuato)
• Guillermo Padrés Elías (Sonora)
• Diego Sinhué Rodríguez Vallejo (Guanajuato)
• Miguel Márquez Márquez (Guanajuato)
• Jaime Rodríguez Calderón (Nuevo León)
• The Monreal Family (Zacatecas)
• Francisco Ramírez Acuña (Jalisco)
• Luis Armando Reynoso Femat (Aguascalientes)

Proposed Reforms for Sustainable Water Governance

To address these systemic failures and align Mexico’s water management with the SDGs, researchers have proposed five key reforms to the National Water Law.

1. Enforce Fiscal Responsibility and Reallocate Resources: Extinguish concessions for which holders have failed to pay fees. This would recover water for public and strategic use, upholding the human right to water (SDG 6) and strengthening institutional integrity (SDG 16).
2. Recognize Community Water Rights: Formally register the water rights of Indigenous peoples, community systems, and agrarian communities. This action is essential for reducing inequalities (SDG 10) and ensuring inclusive governance.
3. Strengthen Environmental Protection: Classify water pollution as a serious crime against public health. This would create a stronger deterrent against industrial contamination, contributing to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 12.
4. Prohibit Privatization: Explicitly forbid the privatization of water resources to ensure water remains a public good, in line with the principles of SDG 6.
5. Ensure Inclusive Decision-Making: Reconstruct the Basin Councils to guarantee the inclusion of Indigenous peoples, community systems, researchers, and affected communities, preventing control by large corporate concessionaires. This aligns with SDG 16.7, which calls for responsive, inclusive, and participatory decision-making.

Analysis of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation – The core theme of the article is the management, distribution, and quality of water resources in Mexico.
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities – The article highlights the extreme disparity in water access, where a small elite (“water millionaires”) controls a vast portion of water resources, disadvantaging the general population, small-scale users, and Indigenous communities.
• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production – The article details the massive water consumption by industrial, agricultural, and service sectors, and the resulting pollution, pointing to unsustainable production patterns.
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – The text discusses corruption, weak legislation (the “Salinas-era water law”), lack of enforcement, and the need for more inclusive and accountable governing bodies like the Basin Councils.
• SDG 5: Gender Equality – The article explicitly mentions that water insecurity disproportionately affects women.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

• Target 6.1: By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all. The article implies this is at risk, citing how overexploitation in the Comarca Lagunera region has led the local population to “extract water with high arsenic content for domestic use.”
• Target 6.3: By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution. The article directly addresses this by mentioning companies like Kimberly-Clark, ArcelorMittal, and the Peñasquito mine being accused of polluting rivers, springs, and water bodies. A proposal is cited to classify “water pollution as a water-related crime against public health.”
• Target 6.4: By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals of freshwater to address water scarcity. The article describes massive, inefficient water use by large agricultural and industrial concession holders, leading to the overexploitation of “99 of the 115 overexploited aquifers in the country.”
• Target 6.5: By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels. The proposal to “reconstruct the Basin Councils to guarantee the inclusion of Indigenous peoples, community systems, agrarian communities, researchers, human rights defenders, and communities affected by pollution” is a direct call for better integrated management.
• Target 6.b: Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management. This is addressed by the proposals to “register the water rights of Indigenous peoples, community systems, and agrarian communities” and ensure their inclusion in Basin Councils.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

• Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all. The article highlights the exclusion of Indigenous peoples, small-scale rural users, and agrarian communities from both water rights and decision-making processes, which are currently “controlled by large concessionaires.”
• Target 10.3: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices. The article identifies the “Salinas-era water law” as a policy that facilitates water hoarding by a few and calls for reforms to end this inequity.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

• Target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. The article details how a few large corporations and agricultural units extract exorbitant amounts of water, such as the Candelaria Irrigation Unit extracting “eight times what all the people in the state of Campeche use for domestic purposes,” indicating unsustainable use.
• Target 12.4: By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle… and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil. The article provides examples of industrial pollution, such as ArcelorMittal’s steel production and Kimberly-Clark’s manufacturing, which have generated “constant complaints from communal landowners (ejidos) regarding pollution.”

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

• Target 16.5: Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms. The article extensively documents how politicians from various parties and their families have obtained numerous water concessions, using their positions for personal gain. This is described as a system of “predators” of water belonging to the “political class.”
• Target 16.6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels. The article criticizes the National Water Commission (Conagua) for weak regulations and lack of oversight, evidenced by the fact that “80 percent of the volume allocated for industrial and service uses is neither being declared nor is the corresponding fees being paid.”
• Target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. The current Basin Councils are described as being “controlled by large concessionaires like FEMSA, Coca-Cola,” highlighting the lack of inclusive decision-making. The proposal to reconstruct them aims to address this target directly.

SDG 5: Gender Equality

• Target 5.a: Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over… natural resources. The article states that water insecurity “disproportionately affects women, who, bearing the brunt of caregiving responsibilities, must walk to collect water or care for sick relatives due to contamination or scarcity,” linking the lack of access to this natural resource to gender inequality.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, the article provides several quantitative and qualitative indicators that can be used to measure progress.

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

• Indicator for Target 6.4 (Water Stress): The article states that the “water millionaires” are located in “99 of the 115 overexploited aquifers in the country.” The number and status of overexploited aquifers serve as a direct indicator of water stress. Additionally, specific extraction volumes are mentioned (e.g., ArcelorMittal extracts 100.5 hm³/year), which can be measured against available resources.
• Indicator for Target 6.3 (Water Quality): The mention of “high arsenic content” in water in the Comarca Lagunera region is a specific, measurable indicator of poor water quality. Reports of pollution by specific companies in Veracruz, Querétaro, Michoacán, and Zacatecas also serve as qualitative indicators.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

• Indicator for Target 10.2/10.3 (Inequality of Access): The article provides a clear metric for inequality: “3,304 major concession holders” who represent “1.1 percent of private users” have amassed “22.3 percent of all water granted for consumptive use.” The concentration of water concessions in the hands of a small percentage of users is a powerful indicator.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

• Indicator for Target 16.6 (Institutional Accountability): A quantifiable indicator of institutional failure is provided: “Industrial and service users should be paying 56 billion pesos annually, but they only paid 12 billion pesos.” The gap between expected and collected fees for water use directly measures the lack of enforcement and accountability. The fact that “80 percent of the volume allocated for industrial and service uses is neither being declared” is another clear indicator.
• Indicator for Target 16.5 (Corruption): The number of water concessions held by politicians and their families, as documented in the Public Registry of Water Rights (REPDA) for figures like Guillermo Padrés Elías, the Monreal family, and Vicente Fox Quesada, serves as an indicator of potential corruption and influence peddling.

4. Create a table with three columns titled ‘SDGs, Targets and Indicators” to present the findings from analyzing the article.

Source: mexicosolidarity.com