Quintana Roo Water Bills Now Over 200 Pesos Monthly

Chetumal — As litigation between the Quintana Roo government and the Aguakan company over the concession for drinking water and sanitation services in the state's northern municipalities remains stalled, the service rate for users continues to rise steadily. The minimum water consumption rate for families has already exceeded 200 pesos per month and for many is approaching 300 pesos.

In February of this year, the Drinking Water Commission (CAPA) raised the minimum drinking water rate for domestic consumption to 203.46 pesos, due to the application of the increase factor of the Measurement and Update Unit (UMA). This represents an increase of 9 pesos over the course of a year, equivalent to 4.6% over the minimum rate of February 2025, which was 194.46 pesos. With that, a total increase of 44.45 pesos in the domestic consumption rate has been accumulated during the administration of Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa.

The increase also includes the accumulated 30% of the electricity rate increase, which the agency adds to the bills each time they occur. This caused the minimum cost of water for families to start 2026 at 196.22 pesos, accumulating an increase of almost 2 pesos since the increase of February 2025, until in February 2026 they applied the annual increase of 7 pesos.

Therefore, barely a month after the new rate was implemented, CAPA raised it again in March 2026, applying a 30% factor to the increase in electricity costs from the previous month. As a result, the minimum water rate applicable this month is 203.50 pesos, which will remain in effect until April 9th.

This rate is the basis for charging for drinking water service to households throughout the state, including in municipalities where the service is provided by the concessionaire Aguakan, which is in the process of being expelled. CAPA provides the company with the rates it must charge each month, as it did in February and March.

With this, the minimum drinking water rate charged in Quintana Roo is more than double that of Yucatán, where it is 82 to 97 pesos per month for families without drainage, depending on the area, and without increases since 2021.

But on the bills, CAPA still tells families in Quintana Roo that they should pay 464.97 pesos for the minimum monthly water consumption. The state government subsidizes 261.51 pesos and therefore only charges them 203.46 pesos.

Because of this latest increase, more than halfway through Mara Lezama's five-year term, the minimum cost of drinking water for families lacking drainage services in Quintana Roo has risen almost 28% cumulatively. When she began her administration in September 2022, it was 159.01 pesos, but since then and to date it has already increased by 44 pesos and 45 cents.

This impact of the increase is only for families without sanitary drainage, since they only pay for water consumption, although they are the majority of domestic users. For families with sanitary drainage, the cost is approaching 300 pesos.

The increase is higher for households that have drainage service, since these families, in addition to water, pay additional fees for sewage and sanitation of 35% and 5% on their water bill, respectively, plus VAT on the latter two items. This tax is only 8% in Chetumal, while for most of the state it is 16%.

In February 2025, the minimum rate for water, drainage, sanitation and VAT for households with drainage reached 278.46 pesos in Chetumal and 284.68 pesos in the rest of the state, including the municipalities served by Aguakan.

With the 2026 increase, the minimum billing for households with drainage in Chetumal reached 291.35 pesos in February. For the rest of the state, from Bacalar to Isla Mujeres, including the four municipalities where Aguakan continues, it is 297.86 pesos, almost 300 pesos per month, and it increased a few cents more in March.

This is more than double the minimum rate paid by households with drainage in Yucatán, which ranges from 123 to 145 pesos per month, with no increases since 2021.

With the combination of charges for water, drainage, sanitation and VAT, a household with sanitary drainage paid at the beginning of the current government, in September 2022, the minimum amount of 227.70 pesos in Chetumal in total billing to CAPA. Those in the rest of the state paid 232.79 pesos to CAPA or to the concessionaire Aguakan.

In Quintana Roo, the increases are automatic. Today these families in Chetumal pay 63.65 pesos more than at the beginning of Mara Lezama's government in September 2022, and those in the rest of the state, 65.07 pesos more, as they have accumulated increases of 27.95%, as do the families without drainage.

It is worth mentioning that the minimum domestic consumption rate is only charged to households that consume up to 10,000 liters or less per month. Users who exceed that limit are charged higher rates as a base fee, plus another fee for every thousand liters they consume above the lower limit of the range.

But the increases in the drinking water rate are constant, and will continue to be so because the state government does not intend to reform the Law of Fees and Rates. According to this law, the charges for domestic use service must increase every year in accordance with the increase of the UMA, but they must also rise every time the electricity rates paid by CAPA do.

That the government is not interested was demonstrated during the XVII Legislature of the State, when three initiatives were presented by Morena deputies, one by the PAN and one by citizens that sought to prevent the rates of drinking water from continuing to increase automatically. They were not attended to and were discarded due to legislative expiration at the end of their term of office.

Among these initiatives were some from Elda Xix Euán, then a local deputy and now Secretary of Education of Quintana Roo (SEQ) and candidate for the municipal presidency of Othón P. Blanco. She campaigned promising reforms to stop the rise in water rates as well as eliminate abusive debt collection, but she left them unfinished without being addressed.

The above contains a discouraging message for families in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, Alfredo V. Bonfil, Leona Vicario and Puerto Aventuras. The rates for drinking water and drainage will not be reduced even if the state government manages to withdraw the concession from the Aguakan company, as it remains the law to constantly increase them.