Mexico plans to invest 63.2bn pesos (US$3.67bn) by 2030 in a national irrigation technology program to modernize 200,000ha and recover 2.8Bm2 of water for human consumption.
During her daily press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum said the program seeks to recover “three times what is consumed in a year in Mexico City” and ensure that all Mexicans have access to water.
“This is a program that is not only unprecedented in the country, it is unprecedented in the world,” Efraín Morales, head of water authority Conagua, said at Wednesday’s presidential press conference. He also emphasized that this is the first initiative of its kind to link agricultural technology and potable water supply for the population.
This year, 6.78bn pesos will be invested, according to the Conagua presentation.
See the full presentation, in Spanish, in the Documents box in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Morales said that agriculture accounts for 76% of water consumption, but 34% is lost due to the poor irrigation systems, so modernizing them will allow for more food production with less water and guarantee the human right to this resource.
He also highlighted the participation of producers, state and municipal governments, as well as the support of military engineers in the execution of the works.
Conagua deputy head of hydro-agricultural infrastructure, Aarón Mastache, said the program focuses on deteriorated canals, damaged diversion dams and obsolete irrigation systems, where a lot of water is lost through filtration and evaporation.
“The idea was to address those urban areas that have drinking water supply problems,” the official said. Mastache said Aguascalientes and its metropolitan area, Mexico state and Ciudad Juárez, among others, will be priority areas.
Projects and bids
He said that six projects are underway in the states of Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Guanajuato and Aguascalientes, and 10 more are in the bidding process, with start dates between August and October.
“I want to say that we have been working since the first day of this administration. We have been operating for 10 months and already have six projects underway. The first five… we are working on together with the support of military engineers from the defense ministry,” said Mastache.
In addition, 1.66bn pesos have been allocated in subsidies with shared contributions from users and states through the hydro-agricultural infrastructure support program.
“The total investment, we said, is more than 60bn pesos throughout the administration,” Mastache said.
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