López Obrador, Enrique Alfaro Supervise El Zapotillo Dam Works

President López Obrador and the Governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro, visited the El Zapotillo dam to supervise enhancements works, the project is expected to ensure water supply for Guadalajara’s metropolitan area, which has been suffering from a water deficit for several years.

During the visit, Alfaro stated that a technical solution to prevent flooding in the nearby towns of Acasico, Palmarejo and Temacapulin, was a great development since it will allow the authorities to source water for Guadalajara’s metropolitan area for the next few decades without affecting surrounding communities and forcing them to move, one of the main issues that stopped the project’s development for many years. “Today, along with the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, we took a historic step at the El Zapotillo dam to put a stop to decades of madness and guarantee water supply for the next decades without flooding Acasico, Palmarejo and Temacapulin,” Alfaro stated.

The project will require an investment of over US$302 million and consists of the conclusion of the construction of the El Zapotillo dam, the construction of the 32km-El Salto-Calderon aqueduct, which will also have a second section of 7km, as well as the construction of the Zapotillo-El Salto aqueduct to extract water from the El Río Verde. Alfaro highlighted that these projects will reduce the water deficit of 1.5m³/s and will raise the supply up to 3m³/s, which is an issue that Guadalajara’s government had been discussing to solve for over 40 years.

Germán Martínez, Director General, the National Water Commission (CONAGUA), highlighted that the dam project remained suspended for 10 years. He added that during the first stage of the project, authorities will invest over US$40 million for the construction of the El Salto-El Calderon aqueduct, whose benefits will begin to show by 3Q23. “By 3Q23, [the water system] could start supplying water to Guadalajara with a 1m³/s capacity. We will wait for the development of the next stages of the project to supply up to 3m³/s by the end of 2023,” Martínez said. 

The federal government said that, as promised in November 2021, it is working on projects that to support the communities affected by the dam. These developments include road infrastructure, as well as health and welfare projects carried out by the Ministries of Culture, Public Education and CONAGUA.