Agriculture uses 70% of available water in Mexico

The agriculture industry in Mexico uses around 70% of water available for consumption, according to a report from Greenpeace Mexico.

The industry uses water from rivers and lakes, in some cases diverting watercourses and overusing aquifers to maintain crop production, making this an unsustainable practice and directly affecting small farmers and the environment, it said.

The agriculture sector also extracts about 90% of the water from the subsoil at a rate that makes it almost impossible for levels to recover naturally, and this has led to devastating effects on the environment, Greenpeace said.

It is estimated that around 15,400 liters of water are used to produce 1kg of beef, 1, 200 liters to produce 1kg of beans and 214 liters to produce 1kg of tomato, the organization said.

Of Mexico's 653 aquifers, 105 are currently overexploited by industrial users, according to data from federal information site Infomex.

About one in 10 Mexicans, or some 13.8mn people, still lack household water connections, according to environmental NGO CartoCrítica.

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