A royal battle is brewing after nine Jalisco state legislators visited the historic town of Temacapulín (Temaca), scheduled to be flooded to make way for the 200-million-dollar Zapotillo curtain dam under construction on the Verde River in the northeastern Los Altos region of the state.
The representative for the zone, Alfonso Íniguez, said the upcoming fight would be “between the screwers and the screwed” – meaning the federal National Water Commission (Conagua) and the 3,000 residents being forcibly displaced from their homes by the dam.
After hearing residents’ concerns, the Jalisco legislators promised to set up a permanent congressional commission to keep an eye on the project and act as intermediaries with the federal government, even though Celia Fausto of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) conceded that the State Congress has no influence over whether the polemic project can be halted.
Two weeks ago Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval met with locals and promised to create “working dialogues” between the state government and Temaca residents. He criticized his predecessor Emilio Gonzalez for “myopia” in refusing to meet and hear the concerns of residents. He called the dam “an imposition,” and “not in the interests of locals.”
Conagua says 65 percent of Temacapulín’s residents have agreed to be either compensated for their properties or relocated in a new town under construction nearby. Conagua says the dam is two-thirds complete and the project cannot be altered to save Temaca, as Sandoval has suggested by reducing its height by 25 meters.
Although Sandoval has offered moral support to the residents of Temacapulin, some of his opponents have accused him of indecision.
'“We don’t need more dialogue. He needs to have balls and to keep his word – not to flood Temaca,” said Enrique Alfaro of the Citizens Movement, who finished runner up to Sandoval in last year’s election for governor.'
Experts this week criticized the federal government for not having done enough studies over the amount of water they expect the dam to be able to hold.
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.
The combination of patchy rainy seasons and the “erratic” nature of the Verde River suggest that Conagua has overestimated the amount of water that can be stored on the dam, Horacio Arteaga Dominguez told La Jornada newspaper.