Water Policy and Institutions

This chapter exhibits Mexican legislation on the subject of use and exploitation of Mexican water resources at the different government tiers and bodies, and lays out a scheme of water policy based on its main instrument, the Plan Nacional Hidrico (National Water Plan), in which the water management by basin and the social participation in decision making, the latter a more expositive principle than real. In spite of the fact that Mexico has a reasonably adequate legal framework on water subjects, with a set of institutions, among which Conagua stands out, and a water policy whose instruments have diversified, water management presents a series of problems such as a lack of long-term view, a bias toward farming water use, and the development of hydro-agricultural infrastructure and budget allocation that neglects sanitation, sewage, and water quality needs.