While Lake Chapala has been on a steady rise since the start of the rainy season in mid-June, experts on water resource management are concerned that government authorities aren’t doing enough to protect the environmental and prevent climate change disaster.
Unfavorable conditions in the Lerma-Santiago-Pacific watershed are in danger of becoming even more precarious due to the lack of vision and appropriate management, warns Raquel Gutierrez Najera, an expert on environmental law and conservation.
Gutierrez recently revealed the contents of a status report on the watershed that underlines deficiencies in planning, implementation of effective policies, application and congruency of legislation, supervision and inspection. The reports suggests authorities are not properly equipped to control and protect, not only the area around Lake Chapala, but across a vast region that impacts the lives of around 30 million inhabitants.
The report considered ideas for new public policies in the Lerma-Santiago-Pacifico region, which stretches over 190,000 square kilometers, encompassing the boundaries of Estado de Mexico, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Jalisco, Nayarit and the southern tip of Durango, administrated by the National Water Commission (Conagua).
“The fact is Conagua’s system is not the most adequate … the institution limits itself to investing most of its budget in building hydraulic works, while other fundamental roles such as regulation, inspection and vigilance have no real dimension,” said Gutierrez, advisor for the Coordination of Evaluation of National Policy on Climate Change.
She also pointed out that the watershed suffers a water deficit to meet user demands, along with intense pressures on its land, flora and fauna and other resources, making the human population highly vulnerable to climate change.
Following a similar line of thought, University of Guadalajara investigator Jose Arturo Gleason Espindola said Jalisco is at risk of a severe water crisis within the next 15 years. He attributes the situation to the absence of a sensible government model for water use and poor awareness among the general populace of the need to conserve the vital liquid.
Nevertheless, the National Water Commission (Conagua) issued a press release last month highlighting progressive measures taken to assure optimum management of superficial water in the Lerma-Chapala watershed.
The document highlights a 2014 presidential decree designed to generate fairer water allocation and compliance of the law.
The agency likewise points to federal funding and technical consultancy as a means to achieve more efficient water use in the high-consumption agricultural sector. At the same time, a trust fund is being set up to pay for upgrading and building water treatment plants that will significantly reduce pollution in the Lerma River.
Conagua is also encouraging broader involvement of stakeholders in its decision-making processes through representation on the Lerma-Chapala Basin Council and its auxiliary groups. The number of seats on the council has been increased from 13 to 36 to include places for spokesmen for every water-use sector, all three levels of government, academia and civic organizations.