Mexico’s new water law could be passed in 20... - BNamericas English
Mexico could finally pass a new water law next year, a legal expert told BNamericas.
Among others, the law would determine the entities responsible for supplying clean water to the general population.
The law is overdue. In 2012, article 4 of the constitution was reformed to declare access to water as a human right, but lawmakers have failed to vote on one of the several proposals presented since 2013.
“I believe that there are political conditions in 2022 for having that famous law out,” Judith Domínguez Serrano (pictured), an environmental studies professor at Colegio de México, told BNamericas.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has said he would like the law passed during his term, which ends in 2024, and his views have a lot of weight, Domínguez said.
She added that the new president of the lower house’s committee for hydrological resources, Rubén Gregorio Muñoz Álvarez, has shown interest in prioritizing the bill. Its drafting must first be approved by the committee and then voted on the floor.
The water committee’s president is from AMLO’s Morena party, which has a lower house majority. He “is also a man from the business world, who understands the economic implications of this bill – and that’s a good thing,” Domínguez said.
When the water committee was created in October, Muñoz said the main challenge was to build a new water law.
The committee could also introduce another water bill, which would include proposals from previous legislative sessions, debates, and private and public proposals, according to Domínguez.
Muñoz has already contacted public and private players to get details on the bill’s progress and its previous versions, according to Domínguez, who was among those contacted.
Domínguez has been involved in drafting several bills before.
She told BNamericas in February that the new law would not be passed this year given that the legislative session ended on August 31.
The new session, with several new lawmakers, started on September 1, but priorities have been the approval of the 2022 federal spending budget and discussions on AMLO’s electrical power reform.
Problems
The long delay in producing a new water law stems from a lack of consensus in the public, private, and social sectors, according to Domínguez.
Throughout the years, several ideas were presented by the legislative branch, private sector and non-profit organizations such as Agua Para Todos. Yet, none have made it to the floor.
Domínguez mentioned at least five current bills.
But some contain radical ideas, such as transferring water management responsibilities to regular citizens.
“Groups are in radical opposition, but the water debate is also a technical debate. Are citizens capable of handling dams? Not many of them, and I don't think everyone is interested in doing so,” she said.
“There must be an authority. Why? Especially because concessions are going to be withdrawn, fines applied, and that is not going to be done by citizens, that's why authorities exist,” Domínguez said.
Latest attempts
When Morena won legislative control in the 2018 elections, the lower house committee for hydrological resources, drinking water and sanitation, started discussions on the bill again.
It invited over 7,000 experts to participate in 35 forums, debating fracking, water concessions and a proposal that would allow public-private partnerships in the sector.
The latest proposal, drafted by 100 lawyers and other experts, is a merger of two proposals presented by Morena and an NGO in March and April last year, respectively, and was presented in early June.
Discussion of the bill was supposed to take place at the end of 2020, but the committee postponed the debate due to requests from legislators wanting to make changes.
Additional versions were presented last year by other political parties, bringing the proposals for the new water law to a total of five to be discussed in congress, according to press reports.
source: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/features/mexicos-new-water-law-could-be-passed-in-2022--expert
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