Community and environmental organizations from the Lake Chapala region have taken the fight over the future of the lake to federal court.
This week, the coalition — which includes the Frente de Pueblos de la Ribera del Lago de Chapala and the Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario (IMDEC) — announced it has filed a constitutional injunction challenging the State Water Commission’s decision to classify the executive project for the new Chapala–Guadalajara replacement aqueduct as “reserved” information.
At issue is the technical blueprint for a major public works project designed to modernize the infrastructure that delivers water from Mexico’s largest lake to the Guadalajara metropolitan area. Activists say the public has been denied access to key studies on extraction volumes, environmental impacts and long-term hydrological planning — information they argue is essential in a region already facing ecological stress and recurring drought.
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 13 before the Seventh Federal District Court on Administrative Matters, argues that withholding the nearly 19-million-peso executive project from the public violates Mexico’s constitutional transparency guarantees and its commitments under the Escazú Agreement, which protects public access to environmental information.}
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