Waters! will launch national water metering program to adjust tariffs

Germán Arturo Martínez Santoyo, director general of the National Water Commission (Conagua), announced that next June the unit will launch a national measurement program, which includes areas of the country where water resources have been overexploited.

During his meeting with senators, Martínez Santoyo said that this measure aims to ensure that large users pay the real amount of water they consume, in addition to initiating actions against users who make irregular use of water.

He stressed that in 2021, Conagua collected 23 billion pesos for payment of duties, while in 2022 it has set a goal of 24 billion pesos, of which almost 6 thousand have been obtained by April.

He also explained that to address the current shortage problem in Monterrey, Nuevo León, he said that an agreement has already been reached between the federal and state government with the representatives of the entity's business sector so that the latter temporarily cede water that they have concessioned to meet the needs of consumption of the population.

In the case of Mexico City and its metropolitan area, he pointed out that it is urgent to address the problems of leakage s in order to reduce the problems faced in supplying the population and regretted that a significant percentage of the water delivered in the region is lost, so work is being done in coordination with the authorities to improve the network.

The official explained that although some regions of the country currently have some degree of drought, their severity is differentiated and, in general terms, it is lower than the levels of drought that have been faced in previous years.

On the phenomenon of drought, he explained that it is a problem that the country has to deal with cyclically and explained that Mexico has three main regions: the one with abundant rainfall (south-southeast of the country), the semi-arid (central area) and the arid region (north).

For this reason, he considered that the country must be prepared to minimize the impact of both floods and drought, and he added that these two environmental situations have been aggravated by the increase in population and increased economic activity.

Martínez Santoyo stressed that progress is being made in the incorporation of the Mexican Institute of Water Technology to Conagua and in the process of decentralization of the Commission's headquarters to the port of Veracruz.

He stressed that Conagua develops the Sanitation Program on the Northern Border and is in charge of compliance with the 1944 Water Treaty, which distributes water on the northern border of Mexico and the United States.

As for the development of hydraulic infrastructure, he announced that, in Sonora, as part of the Justice Plan for the Yaqui people, work is being done on an aqueduct to bring drinking water to their communities; in Sinaloa, progress is being made in the creation of the irrigation area of the Picachos dam and the construction of the Santa María dam, and in several entities provide maintenance and rehabilitation to dams and hydraulic infrastructure.

The official added that the priority projects of the Plan of Justice for the Yaqui people are also being developed; Santa María dam and irrigation area; Picachos dam and its irrigation area; Concordia aqueduct; Centenario Channel; López Mateos-Xpujil aqueduct; El Zapotillo dam; La Libertad dam; water treatment plant in Macuspana, Tabasco; project, Healthy Water for La Laguna; Tula de Allende water plan, Hidalgo; protection works in Paso Largo, Veracruz, and the Lago de Texcoco Ecological Park.

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