Overview
- Congress approved a new General Water Law and amendments to the National Waters Law and sent the package to the Executive for publication.
- The reform designates the state as sole regulator and prohibits private transfers of water concessions, shifting to reassignment under expedited procedures that include 20‑business‑day resolutions for inheritances, property sales, and corporate changes.
- Transitional provisions give Conagua 180 days to issue regulations and user procedures, with prior rules remaining in effect until new fee and reserve‑fund regulations are issued.
- National farm groups announced a strategic pause in demonstrations after talks with federal officials, yet water users in the Mexicali Valley kept a second day of blockade at the Mexicali–Calexico port pending a scheduled meeting with the governor and Conagua.
- The government says the law will provide certainty and curb concentration, activists and some researchers argue it leaves core concession mechanisms intact, and the package adds a chapter making crimes against national waters prosecutable ex officio.