Mexico’s National Agreement for the Human Right to Water and Sustainability Published in DOF | Holland & Knight LLP

The National Agreement for the Human Right to Water and Sustainability was published in Mexico’s Federal Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación or DOF) on Dec. 19, 2024. The agreement integrates, among other things, the review and regulation of water concessions; the incorporation of a single registry of concessions; and an effort to modernize agricultural irrigation.

Background

• On Nov. 22, 2024, the Preliminary Draft of the National Agreement for the Human Right to Water and Sustainability was published on the portal of the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement. On Nov. 25, 2024, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo signed the agreement at an event with several officials, including Alicia Barcena Ibarra, head of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales or SEMARNAT), Julio Antonio Berdegue Sacristan, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural or SADER), as well as Efrain Morales Lopez, General Director of the National Water Commission (Comisión Nacional del Agua or CONAGUA), who jointly signed the agreement.
• The exhibitors pointed out that this agreement has as its main objective to be a comprehensive model of sustainable development, as well as to value and protect the water cycle as a national and public good, recognizing the intrinsic link among social equality, economic growth and the environment.

Contents of the Agreement

• General commitments: The agreement establishes as its objective the work in coordination among the federal government, the states, municipalities and territorial demarcations (Main Agents), as well as representatives of the agricultural, livestock, industrial, social and academic sectors (Sector Representatives), to carry out actions within their respective competencies and faculties and to address water stress through the following 10 general commitments:

1. guarantee of the human right to water in sufficient quantity and quality
2. efficient use of water in the production processes of industrial, agricultural and livestock activities
3. investment by the three levels of government in terms of infrastructure within the framework of the National Water Program
4. collaboration among the public, private and social sectors to carry out improvement actions in local environments to strengthen the human right to water
5. carrying out effective management, orderly and sustainable in the matter of concessions
6. development of a digitization and simplification of procedures program
7. promoting technological innovation for the treatment, reuse and purification of water, with the inclusion of biotechnology and green infrastructure
8. carrying out adaptation and mitigation measures in the face of the effects of climate change, including reforestation and environmental restoration
9. preventing the pollution of our rivers and bodies of water, as well as contributing to the restoration and sanitation of these
10. implementation of a permanent awareness campaign, saving, using, reusing and caring for water

• Voluntary return of water volumes: During the presentation and signing of the agreement, the director general of CONAGUA said that, as a result of dialogues with various sectors, the return of volumes of water that are currently not being used has already been agreed upon, and there are no future projects. He also said that the volume of the return is equivalent to three years of complete consumption in Mexico City, and is comprised as follows:
  • Various districts and irrigation units have committed to the return of more than 2.8 billion cubic meters (amount equivalent to three years of full consumption in Mexico City).
  • The companies from the industrial sector have committed to return 126 million cubic meters of water and also have committed to making investments that to date total more than $21 billion pesos to improve the efficiency, treatment and reuse of water in their production processes and in community projects that will be carried out in different regions of the country.
• Public investment: As part of the scope of the agreement, it is established that the Main Agents will allocate public investment to address water-related issues within the framework of the National Water Plan and the plans derived from it.
• Additional legal instruments and dissemination: The agreement serves as a framework and establishes the main axes of coordination or general commitments between the Main Agents, which is why it is estimated that various additional agreements and legal instruments be signed later. It also establishes a commitment to joint dissemination in order to raise awareness about water safety, protection and sustainability.
• Agricultural, livestock and industrial sectors: The agreement establishes that these sectors will develop the actions specified for this purpose in the coordination and collaboration instruments derived from the agreement.
• Committee Integration: CONAGUA and the Sector Representatives will form a committee for the monthly monitoring of the actions of the agreement and those measures adopted in each of the coordination and collaboration instruments. It also establishes that the CONAGUA River Basin Organizations will be responsible for regional monitoring and must submit a detailed monthly report to the committee.
• Validity and effect: It will come into force on December 20, 2024. It renders null and void any agreement that is contrary to the agreement.

Considerations

• The regulations that arise or are modified from the agreement and the National Water Plan may determine more restrictive conditions for the granting of concessions and/or their transfer.
• The agreements and coordination instruments arising from the agreement may carry out more specific monitoring and surveillance of compliance with the obligations of the concession holder.