Politics of Lake Chapala

Politics are at the root of Lake Chapala’s problems. Unfortunately there is a conflict between the political, economic and ecological interests regarding water usage and treatment. All five states in the Lerma-Chapala basin, in addition to Mexico City, want water from the River Lerma to irrigate farms, run factories and supply cities and towns.

So much water is being diverted from the Lerma River, that it is no longer able to nourish the lake as it has for millennia, and the lake is rapidly disappearing. The governments of four of these states, México, Querétaro, Guanajuato and Michoacán, are all more beholden to their local constituencies than to the need to save the lake. The voters in these states depend on agriculture and industry. Farmers want plentiful and free water for irrigation, and they don’t see the need, or are unable to finance, modern and efficient irrigation systems. They pay a symbolic amount for obtaining water rights, but do not have to pay anything in accordance to the water they actually use. They use 80% of the water but rank only 7th in contribution to gross national product. Factories want cheap water and don’t want to install or finance expensive water treatment plants. Many prefer to pay inspectors bribes rather than pay for water treatment facilities. The average voter has mainly demonstrated apathy up to now. This is certain to change when households begin to run out of water.

The State of Jalisco is more divided over this issue. About ¾ of the lake shore is in Jalisco (the other ¼ being in Michoacán), and Jalisco has a sizeable number of citizens (almost 300,000) who live by the lake. Many of them, especially those on the northwestern shore, depend on a large foreign community for their livelihood. If the lake were to disappear, most of these foreigners would leave, and the local economy would take a nose dive. But the state government is much more concerned about the ca. six million citizens in the metropolitan area around Guadalajara, the state capital, which mainly depends on Lake Chapala for its water, which it gets from a pumping station near the town of San Nicolás. About 40% of the water in the metropolitan area around Guadalajara is lost due to leaks in the water mains. There has not been the political will to raise the necessary taxes, nor the fiscal discipline with available monies, to fix the water system. Nor has the state congress ever been able to get enough votes to finance alternate water sources for Guadalajara, for example from the Verde River. Calls to conserve water have largely been ineffective, because there is no real incentive to save. Municipal water is cheap, costing only 1/3 of the cost of pumping and treating it, and there are no financial incentives to install water saving devices. Rather than raising the price of water and tightening bill collection procedures, the metropolitan water authority has taken the easy way out, having recently condoned up to 75% of the outstanding water debts, sending the clear message that it is not really so necessary to pay. This was money that could have been used to fix the leaks in the water mains.

The National Water Commission (CNA) is responsible for administrating Mexico’s water resources, and it has spent years talking about saving Lake Chapala, but it has not really done anything effective to accomplish this.

The Council of the Lerma Chapala Basin -
"Consejo de la Cuenca Lerma-Chapala"

Past presidents as well as the current president, Vicente Fox, have all sworn that they would save the lake, but up to now none has had the political will and the personal strength necessary to put regional and national ecological interests ahead of local economic interests to succeed. One of the problems that President Fox faces is that he is from Guanajuato, where local farmers are putting him under pressure to build a new dam to provide them with more water. A farmer himself, he will have to summon a lot of courage to not give in to this pressure, especially considering that they supported him in his presidential campaign. President Benito Juárez saved the lake in 1867. Now, President Fox, especially after having taken part in the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, can hardly let it die.

The general public must become more aware of the necessity of making the hard choices and sacrifices which are unavoidable to save the lake and protect the environment. The government must also be aware of how much ordinary citizens care about this issue.

The Sociedad Amigos del Lago is totally apolitical. The organization’s overriding objective is to save the lake. It will support ideas and proposals which serve this end, independently of where they come from, whether this be persons, parties or government organizations. It will oppose actions and plans which would hurt the lake, also independently of who initiates them. It will not support or oppose anything only on the basis of where it comes from.
(Click on the President Fox link to see how to contact him.)

We talk with the politicians --  straight and eye to eye.

Here a member of Amigos del  Lago with Alberto Cardenas  Jiménez, Ex-Governor  from  Jalisco, former head of the National Forest Commission  (CONAFOR) and now Secretary for the environment.