Mexican Farmers Protest New Water Law Over Survival Fears

The Mexican Congress has accelerated the legislative process to approve the new General Water Law by December 15, a reform that has sparked one of the biggest points of tension between the federal government and the rural sector in recent years. Agricultural and livestock producers from various regions of the country consider this legislation a direct threat to the economic stability of the Mexican countryside, already hit by recent conflicts such as the confrontation over the price of corn.

The discontent is significant: peasant organizations are preparing roadblocks, border closures, and a possible national shutdown if Morena and its allies insist on approving the law without incorporating their demands. The country could face a new wave of protests in a matter of days.

Conflict Over Water Concessions

The core of the conflict is the modification to the water concession regime. The initiative proposes that permits for agricultural use can no longer be sold, inherited, or transferred between individuals. When a concession is no longer used, it will automatically return to the state, so that the National Water Commission (Conagua) can reassign it.

Until now, the legislation allowed private transfers, which gave rise to a parallel market of buying and selling that has operated for decades without government control. The government argues that the reform aims precisely to bring order and prevent speculation.

Farmers’ Concerns

For rural organizations, however, the effect is different: lands lose value without an associated concession.

“It is a regressive law that strips us of the rights gained with water concessions; it puts the stability of our families at risk,” says Eraclio Rodríguez, former deputy and leader of the National Front for the Rescue of the Countryside.

The concern is shared by thousands of small producers who depend on minimal concessions to sustain their crops.

Technical Inequality and Infrastructure Costs

Another critical point is that water volumes in the new law are conditioned on the user having technified and sustainable infrastructure, such as drip irrigation systems, sprinklers, digital measurement, and piped channels.

For large agribusiness, these requirements are part of their usual operations. For small and medium producers, however, they represent an unattainable cost.

“We have earthen channels, not drip systems. We do not have the resources that foreign companies have,” laments Horacio Gómez, president of wheat producers in Baja California.

Farmers interviewed assure that, if the law is approved as is, thousands of producers would be left out of the concession system for not being able to meet the minimum infrastructure requirements, which would pave the way for the reassignment of water to other sectors.

Historical Concentration and Lack of Oversight

Academic studies have documented that around 3,300 large private users, just 1.1% of the registry, concentrate 22% of the country’s concessioned water, equivalent to 13,000 billion cubic meters per year. The historical lag in supervision and lack of traceability fueled a scenario where Conagua stopped having precise information on the real use of the resource.

The new law seeks to correct these distortions; however, farmers fear that reassignments will end up favoring the same actors who already concentrate the largest volume.

Stalled Negotiations and Rejected Offer

Rural organizations held meetings with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture, without reaching agreements. The government offered to include some of their demands in a transitory article, but peasant leaders reject this alternative, because transitory provisions can be easily repealed or modified.

The representatives request a direct meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum, arguing that the information is not reaching the president clearly.

Planned Protest Actions

The peasant front discussed over the weekend in Mexico City the measures they will adopt if the reform advances. Among the planned actions are:

• Increasing road closures in several states
• Blocking borders and border crossings
• Suspending operations in key companies
• Symbolic takeover of federal facilities
• Conference in front of the National Palace
• And a potential national strike

Just a few weeks ago, a similar mobilization over the price of corn forced the government to modify its stance. Producers trust that social pressure could stop or modify the reform.

Government Justification and Farmer Fears

The new General Water Law attempts to address real problems according to the government: lack of control over concessions, concentration of the resource, and discretionary use in critical regions. But the solution it proposes does not distinguish technical or economic capacities, nor the deep inequalities between agribusiness and small producers.

The countryside fears that this law will end up breaking those who have the least margin to adapt, and that the reassignment of concessions will favor sectors with greater economic power.

The government, for its part, insists that the reform guarantees the human right to water and seeks a fairer distribution. Both discourses advance on parallel lines that have not yet met.

Context on Water Access in Mexico

Access to groundwater for irrigation and livestock in Mexico is a complex and highly regulated process, as water is considered Property of the Nation. Therefore, productive use requires a Concession Title granted by the National Water Commission (Conagua).

This title is not a free extraction permit, but a right of use that specifies the exact volume of cubic meters (m³) that the producer is authorized to extract annually, and that has a limited validity requiring constant renewal.

The process to obtain a well concession is articulated in three critical phases: it begins with a Water Need Study that must demonstrate the legal availability of the aquifer; if approved, Conagua issues the Drilling Permit, requiring that the well be built under strict technical standards; finally, to receive the Concession Title, the well must be equipped with meters so that water extraction can be audited and verified, tying the producer to volume and time control.

The bureaucratic complexity and high cost of this process act as an insurmountable barrier for many small producers, which fosters the existence of numerous illegal wells or “pirate wells” that operate without control, aggravating the overexploitation of aquifers.

Contrast Between Current and Proposed Law

The contrast between the current law and the government’s proposal lies in the priority and security of investment. Under the current system, a rancher in Yucatán invests in his well with the expectation that his 15-year Concession Title will be renewed almost automatically, giving legal security to his business. The New Law, in contrast, seeks to impose the absolute priority of water for human consumption.

For example, if an aquifer in Tizimín is depleted by population growth, the law would allow Conagua to reduce or annul the farmer’s concession to ensure that there is water for the city, even if the producer has operated legally. His right, which was previously fixed, becomes conditional on public need.

The difference is also observed in oversight. The current system is very costly and complex for the honest producer, but at the same time it is ineffective against illegal extraction (the “pirate wells”). The New Law seeks to replace this obsolete bureaucracy with strict technical and federal control, forcing all concessionaires to use sophisticated measurement technologies.

While this could improve transparency, it also means that if the farmer exceeds the allowed volume in a short period (due to an intense drought), he could face severe sanctions or the cancellation of his title, something that is currently handled with greater laxity, thus increasing the legal vulnerability of the primary sector.

The fragility of the primary sector throughout the country is aggravated by the risk of an imminent regulatory change. The New National Water Law, while justified by Conagua as a tool to curb hoarding and guarantee the human right to water, directly threatens the legal security of the producer. The proposed law transforms the farmer’s or rancher’s water concession from a renewable and secure right into a revocable privilege, as it empowers the state to cancel or restrict volumes for reasons of overexploitation or public utility.

This means that the systemic vulnerability of the peasantry, which already suffers from bureaucracy and high costs, would be deepened by a legal uncertainty that could strip them of their vital input at any time in favor of social priority.