After two decades marked by government failures, mismanagement, political disputes and human rights abuses, the saga of the Zapotillo Dam on Jalisco’s Verde River has finally drawn to a close with its official opening earlier this month.
On hand to cut the ribbon on the 39-billion-peso ($US2 billion) infrastructure project—at one point seemingly destined to become this country’s costliest white elephant—were President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, and Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro.
The celebratory mood was led mostly by Alfaro, who repeated his assertion that the dam and its ancillary pumping/aqueduct network will guarantee Guadalajara’s water supply for the next half century—a claim disputed by many experts, and described by one local opinion writer as “nothing more than political posturing.”
Initially planned to reach a height of 105 meters, which would have displaced the small communities of Temacapulín, Acasico and Palmarejo, the dam’s plans were continuously altered, its scope narrowed, and its promises diluted. Today, what stands is a subpar version of the original vision, potentially failing to meet the water needs it was intended to fulfill while representing a significant financial and moral debt.
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