Overview
- The Senate approved the General Water Law in a fast-track vote, 85–36 in general, hours after Deputies passed it 324–118 following a marathon debate, with the chamber authorized to sit at an alternate site due to blockade threats.
- The measure advances without further changes and will be sent to the Executive for publication in the Diario Oficial de la Federación to enter into force.
- Core provisions make the state the primary regulator, eliminate private transfers of water concessions, create a National Water Registry and a reserve fund, and replace transfers with reassignment resolved in up to 20 business days.
- The text heightens enforcement by raising penalties for corrupt officials who grant illegal concessions to up to two to fourteen years in prison and by adding new crimes and fines for commercial transport, diversion, or unauthorized alterations of national waters.
- Agricultural organizations vow to continue mobilizations and press for recognition of historic wells, while Conagua and Morena contend that inheritance and land sales will keep water rights via reassignment under Article 49.