Imagine that the Valley of Mexico is restoring its lacustrine nature, guaranteeing water quality thanks to crystalline reservoirs, not depending on other pools or ultra-deep wells that drown the city by sucking in fossil water.
Were it not for the fierce resistance of Conagua’s CEO, the Lake Tlahuac Chico Restoration project would have brought us closer to that future. This lake could provide a safe source of water for half a million inhabitants of Tlahuac and Valle de Chalco, and at the same time put an end to the chronic floods that have been suffered here. This would transform the area, currently dominated by illegal entities, into a metropolitan ecotourism attraction: sailboats and small boats would cruise among endemic and migratory birds on a 545-hectare lake in communal hands with mountain ranges and volcanoes in the background.
This project is ready for implementation: it is supported by the thirsty population of the region. It has an executive draft, an environmental impact report, and $400 million in government resources set aside for its first phase. It enjoys the support of Sacmex and CAEM and the enthusiasm of the Ministry of Finance, who consider it the hydraulic project with the most benefits at the lowest cost they know of. It has federal land on which to start its first phase, and with progress in reaching the necessary agreements with ejidos that will benefit from the project.
Why did the CEO of CONAGUA decide that this project would not be realized?
The two historically used arguments in favor of the extractive model and against reuse have already been overcome. NOM-SSA-127 prohibits the treatment of treated wastewater, but it appears that when released into a national water body, “treated wastewater” legally becomes “national water” and is therefore released.
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Technically, the Tláhuac-Xico project proposes to treat stormwater and wastewater in accordance with NOM 001, to then pass them through wetlands that remove emerging pollutants not yet regulated, after which they will be “naturalized” by bio-oxygenation processes and the UV rays of the sun before cleaning it. Its final quality will not only exceed the quality of NOM SSA 127, but also the quality of “drinkable” fossil waters in the southeast of the basin.
In fact, out of necessity and without federal support, sewage treatment, naturalization, and reuse projects are being initiated across the country: in Monterrey, Tijuana, Guadalajara, and in light of the cancellation of the Zapotillo transfer in León; Even today, drinking water from Lake Chapala and Valle de Bravo already includes treated and untreated wastewater. Dozens of cities in Europe and 13 states in North America are already dependent on treated wastewater; in Singapore, water restored in this way is referred to as “new water”.
Another pretext that has been overcome concerns the volumes provided to the irrigation districts in Hidalgo. Part of the problem will be solved through the redistribution of water in Region XIII to correct the chaotic distribution of volumes in the 1990s and effectively ensure fair and sustainable access. But what farmers in Hidalgo want most is regulation of the volumes they receive. While other irrigation areas of the country have dams that allow the timely release of the volumes provided to them, the Hidalgo areas are subject to shower tsunamis, the strength of which has increased with the advent of the Oriente emitter. They are demanding that the capacity of the Mexican Basin, its “dam”, be restored and increased, starting with the lakes of Texcoco.
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These pretexts aside, what would be the Director General’s real motives for refusing to authorize the Tlahuac Chico Lake project?
Perhaps his opposition is due to the fact that he and his relatives dream of a water crisis that will bring the people of the Basin of Mexico to their knees in order to be able to impose new multi-million dollar transfers, from Necaxa, from Valle de Mezquital from Temazcaltepec, projects that will bring immediate benefits to those who authorize them, despite the exorbitant social, environmental and energy costs and despite the vulnerability of dependence on external sources in the midst of an onslaught of dark forces.
Perhaps he opposes it because this $5 billion project will use the resources of the 1928 Trust, which the Water Resources Authority thinks to use for more “profitable” work for its private interests. This trust, revived to fund the hydraulic works of the former NAICM, receives $3 billion annually through the return of rights granted by SACMEX and CAEM to use the Cutzamala system. The decisions made there are discretionary and not subject to public discussion (for example, the ill-conceived Emisor Oriente was born there), and largely determine the model for managing the water resources of the Mexican Basin.
Perhaps the Water Authority sees the human right to water as “demagogic” and optional, especially when it comes to popular metropolitan areas.
Or perhaps the CEO of Conagua is trying to block as it breeds a corcholata that has managed to reach consensus on a metropolitan drinking water plan that includes both the Tlahuac Chico lake project and sanitation and cleanup. from the Guadalupe and Madine dams and 1.5 m3/s more water from the Cuzamala system through improved irrigation at the El Bosque dam in exchange for recognition of the rights of the communities living there.
Under the National Water Act, we will not be able to know why the CEO is opposed to the approval of strategic projects like this. It is only through the tremendous efforts of citizens and the General Water Law, which ensures that decisions are made in a participatory and transparent manner, that we will be able to open the doors to the future of water.
Source: Aristegui Noticias

John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.