Palace damage

The Jalisco Government Palace in the Guadalajara Centro, vandalized by a small group during protests on November 15, will require 6.8 million pesos (US$370,000) in repairs.

Civil society organizations focused on water, public health and environmental protection in Jalisco have issued a sharp public challenge to state water authorities following the legislature’s formal review of the governor’s first year in office, raising concerns about transparency, participation and the future of major water infrastructure projects—including the proposed Chapala–Guadalajara aqueduct.

The statement responds to the recent appearance of Jalisco’s Secretary of Integrated Water Management, Ernesto Marroquín Álvarez, and SIAPA director Antonio Juárez Trueba before the state Congress, where they presented results tied to the governor’s first annual report.

In their joint pronunciamiento, the organizations criticize what they describe as a dismissive attitude toward water quality problems at SIAPA, the metropolitan water utility that serves Guadalajara and much of the surrounding urban area. They cite the director’s public claim that reports of discolored water have declined, arguing that this framing trivializes systemic problems tied to the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation.

The groups also point to what they describe as a broader pattern of opacity at the agency. According to the statement, SIAPA has not made public the minutes of its governing board or tariff commission meetings since July, despite legal transparency requirements.

Another central critique targets the state government’s assertion that a major “reengineering” of SIAPA has been carried out through a broad and participatory process. The organizations argue that water utility workers—who operate the system on a daily basis—were excluded from the process, as were community groups, academics and long-standing water defenders who have been advocating for changes to Jalisco’s water governance model for decades.

Instead, they assert that business groups linked to the privately organized Consejo Consultivo del Agua have maintained an outsized influence over water policy discussions. The statement warns that this reinforces what it calls an outdated infrastructure-first model that prioritizes large engineering projects over deeper reforms to address water loss, ecosystem degradation and governance failures.

Concerns over transparency and public participation are especially acute, the groups say, in relation to the proposed Chapala–Guadalajara aqueduct project. State officials have treated the project as a given in recent planning documents, including the State Development Plan, the State Water Plan and future budget projections.

Yet according to the pronunciamiento, no executive project has been made publicly available, despite repeated formal requests for the documentation. A recent response from the State Water Commission indicated that contract timelines for the project’s development phase were delayed into late 2025.

For organizations working in lakeside communities, the issue goes beyond paperwork. They argue that moving forward with an aqueduct without transparent technical studies or social consultation deepens mistrust and ignores the concerns of residents who depend directly on Lake Chapala for their livelihoods.

The groups situate the controversy within what they describe as a wider failure by the current administration to confront the structural roots of Jalisco’s worsening water crisis. They argue that continued reliance on large-scale hydraulic infrastructure will not resolve underlying problems such as watershed destruction, aquifer over-exploitation, ecosystem collapse and water contamination.

They also warn that growing international interest in water investment—including from multilateral banks and foreign governments—raises the risk of creeping privatization, even as corruption and environmental degradation persist.

The statement closes with six formal demands to state authorities. These include full public release of SIAPA’s restructuring proposal; opening the reform process to workers and civil society; conducting truly independent external audits; making public the executive project and technical studies for the Chapala–Guadalajara aqueduct; opening the drafting of the State Water Plan to broad public participation; and removing the current SIAPA director from office over what they describe as his responsibility for opacity and misconduct.

The pronunciamiento was signed by the Mexican Institute for Community Development (IMDEC), the Union of Peoples and Organizations of Jalisco for Water, Health and Territory (UPOJAST), the Front of Peoples of the Shore of Lake Chapala, and two citizen campaigns focused on SIAPA oversight and anti-corruption efforts.

Tracy L. Barnett is the founding editor of The Esperanza Project.

The  Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) has completed the widening of a one-kilometer stretch of the Morelia-Guadalajara federal highway, expanding it from two to four lanes near the Acatlán de Juárez junction.

Jalisco’s Secretary of Infrastructure and Public Works last week fully opened to traffic the renovated lanes of a six-kilometer stretch along the Chapala Highway, running between the Guadalajara International Airport and the city’s ring road (Periférico).

The latest report from the National Guard confirms that several roadblocks erected by farmers and truckers remain in place in Jalisco, affecting key highways.