Mexican senate pushing to revert Peña Nieto's water decrees

The Mexican senate approved an "urgent" motion calling on Roberto Ramírez, head of water authority Conagua, to indefinitely halt the awarding of new water concessions under the protection of the 10 water reserve decrees signed by President Enrique Peña Nieto in June.

The measure, backed by the Morena coalition on which ticket president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) ran, also calls for the implementation of Conagua Digital – a procedure that will enable online submission and approval of requests for water concessions and permits – to be halted.

The senators are also asking Peña Nieto to repeal the decrees, backing arguments from local NGOs that they reserve water for public use without recognizing the human right to water, and potentially enable any local water operator to award private concessions for the use of the resource.

The motion also asks Ramírez and environment minister Rafael Pacchiano to appear before the upper house to explain the social, economic and environmental impact of the decrees.

Senators from ruling party PRI and the right-leaning PAN abstained, according to a Morena senator.

AMLO made a campaign promise to repeal the decrees, which according to opponents lift a ban on implementing a concession system to privatize water.

Morena party senator and head of the upper house, Martí Batres, submitted a bill to ban the privatization of water resources last month.

The proposal seeks to prevent the exploitation, commercialization and management of water resources for financial gain.

AMLO's Morena coalition holds 69 of the senate's 128 seats. The majority of seats in the lower house are also held by the coalition. He takes office on December 1.