Overview

• The initiative reasserts state control by defining water as a national public good, prioritizing human and domestic access, and eliminating market-style transfers and water banks.
• Conagua would consolidate records into a National Water Registry and operate a Reserve Fund to recover volumes and reassign unused or irregular concessions.
• A new Water Crimes chapter makes certain offenses prosecutable ex officio, with penalties ranging from 2–10 years in prison for unauthorized transport or diversion, up to 12 years for corruption, and fines up to 50,000 UMA.
• Unused or misused concessions must be returned to Conagua for reassignment, and the Executive could set extraction, use and discharge limits in the public interest.
• Conagua frames the package as a way to curb a concessions black market, citing 536,000 titles and about 59,000 irregularities, while specialists warn of added bureaucracy and the need for staffing, budget and recognition of community systems.