Morena presents an initiative in the Senate against the privatization of water

Victor Ballinas

09/10/2018

Morena members in the Senate presented an initiative to reform the National Water Law, to reverse any process aimed at privatizing the potable water service.

Martí Batres, leader of the Morena caucus, proposed modifying article 4 of that law to establish that the authority and administration in matters of national waters lies with the federal Executive, that the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the hydraulic infrastructure will be public and that any form of resource privatization will be prohibited.

He stressed that water management will also be non-profit, so he proposed that Article 4 of the aforementioned law states that "it is prohibited to conclude contracts with individuals, as well as the granting of total or partial concessions to operate, to conserve, maintain, rehabilitate, modernize or expand the hydraulic infrastructure and the provision of the services associated with it.

"Neither concessions nor contracts will be granted to project, build, equip, operate and maintain the hydraulic infrastructure or to provide the services associated with it, It is forbidden for a private individual to perform administration and commercialization of the potable water service of privatization of water management."

Likewise, Batres stated that the ninth section of Article 4 of the Water Law should be reformed to indicate that "the direct commissioning of the 'commission' is reserved for, program, study, construct, operate, conserve and maintain federal hydraulic works directly, as well as to carry out actions that correspond to the federal scope for the integral use of water, its regulation and control and the preservation of its quantity and quality.

"The foregoing, in the cases that correspond to or affect two or more hydrological-administrative regions, or that affect international treaties and agreements in transboundary basins, or when so provided by the Federal Executive, as well as in other cases established by this law or its regulations, which are reserved for the direct action of 'the commission' at its national level."