Governor-elect Aristoteles Sandoval has promised to modify a half-finished dam in north-eastern Jalisco to avoid displacing some 3,000 citizens.
During his campaign, Sandoval had pledged to save three communities, including the historic town of Temacapulín, that were scheduled to be flooded to make way for the 175-million-dollar Zapotillo curtain dam.
Sandoval took to Twitter Tuesday to reiterate that “Jalisco must be the beneficiaries of decisions and not suffer from them. We will not inundate Temacapulín.”
According to National Water Commission (Conagua) estimates, the Zapotillo Dam will be able to provide water for some 2.4 million people – 1.1 million in Leon, 950,000 in Guadalajara and 350,000 in 14 municipalities of Jalisco’s Los Altos region.
But Jalisco’s share of the water could be drastically reduced if Sandoval goes ahead to reduce the height of the dam from 105 meters to 80 meters. This would mean that residents of Temacapulin, Acasico and Palmarejo would be able to stay in their homes. However, many have already sold their homes to the federal government, or swapped them for new and bigger properties under construction several miles away in Nuevo Temacapulin.
Many Temacapulín residents and NGOs have vigorously opposed the project, criticizing authorities for refusing to acknowledge the huge environmental and social impacts of the dam and failing to properly consult them.
After five years of vocal opposition from civil society, representatives of the federal government and the National Water Commission (Conagua) held talks with the local communities last year. Yet authorities declined to act on their complaints and pressed ahead with construction.
Sandoval made his polemic comment one day after the new director of the Lerma-Santiago-Pacifico Basin Jose Elias Chedid Abraham said the local delegation of the National Water Commission would respect whatever decisions the new Jalisco administration took regarding the Zapotillo Dam.
What is not clear is how Sandoval plans to proceed with the task of ensuring Guadalajara maintains an adequate supply of water over the next three decades. One answer could be to push ahead quickly with a plan to build the Purgatorio Dam on the River Verde, some 15 miles from the metro area. Another could be to resuscitate the costly Arcediano Dam project on the Santiago River in the Huentitan Canyon to the northeast of Guadalajara.
Cesar Coll Carabias, director of the Jalisco Water Commission, slammed Sandoval’s tweet, saying that reducing the height of the dam would still mean flooding the community of Acasico, and reduce any possibility of water reaching Guadalajara. He called the governor-elect’s comment “a whim.”
In an attempt to calm the situation, Ricardo Villanueva, the head of Sandoval’s transition team, said the official position of the new administration would be made clear after March 1, when the changeover in power takes office.
Villanueva said an important step would be to meet with the inhabitants of the communities affected before any final decision was made.
Current Governor Emilio Gonzalez repeatedly refused to travel to the region and meet with residents of the three localities.