The Pulse of Progress: How Water Underpins Mexican Industry

Since 2023, Mexico’s legal framework governing national water resources has undergone drastic changes, incorporating prohibitions and restrictions on water use, wastewater discharges, and the use of federal areas corresponding to water bodies under federal jurisdiction.

In principle, the 2023 amendments to the Mining Law and the National Waters Law have a significant impact on the mining sector, establishing prohibitions, new concepts, and legal requirements regarding water management.

The 2023 amendments established a new category for the use of national waters, introducing “Industrial Use in Mining” for water used in mining exploration, extraction, and processing activities; they also established special requirements for obtaining a national water concession for this Industrial Use in Mining, prohibiting (at that time) the transfer of national water rights from other uses to Industrial Use in Mining.

Consequently, access to a water source for the execution of mining projects was restricted; furthermore, it was established that the use of water for mining operations would require a concession, as it falls under Industrial Use in Mining.

Additionally, a prohibition is established on the use of watercourses and their federal zones for the installation of sites for the disposal of mining waste and industrial wastewater; furthermore, these national assets may not be impacted by mining exploration, exploitation, or processing activities, which limits the possibility of carrying out mining activities and constructing tailings dams that were previously built in such areas.

The implication of these reforms is that a mining project must undergo a proper feasibility analysis to identify legal restrictions — specifically regarding water — in order to carry out its implementation, but above all, its planning.

The conduct of environmental and water due diligence takes on greater relevance and importance in order to assess the availability and feasibility of securing water resources and properly executing a project.

In addition to the above, in December 2025, a new law — the General Water Law — will be enacted, with the primary objective of establishing regulations to guarantee the human right to access, use, and sanitation of water for personal and domestic consumption.

Meanwhile, amendments to the National Water Law are published, with changes that now have repercussions not only in the mining sector but also across all sectors of the population and the economy, as this is considered a structural reform that alters access to national water concessions.

This reform brings an end to a period of speculation involving national water resources, as it prohibits the transfer of rights between private parties as we previously knew it. It is no longer feasible to buy and sell water concessions (in fact, such transactions have never been legal, given that water is a national asset); what was once a common practice is now strictly prohibited.

A new procedure called “Reallocation of Water Volumes” is established, which will be implemented through the creation of a National Water Reserve Fund; the regulations governing the operation of this Fund are still pending.

It should be noted that, in accordance with the 2025 reforms, priority is given to access to water to guarantee human and domestic rights; therefore, the regulations will likely establish a priority order regarding this use.

Looking ahead, the various productive sectors must consider actions to ensure water supply for their activities and processes, analyze the volumes of water required, and establish mechanisms to preserve their concession rights or obtain new rights through new concessions or by accessing the National Water Reserve Fund.

Consideration should also be given to analyzing and implementing investments in innovation and technology to promote the reuse, recirculation, and efficient and sustainable use of water, given that these elements are considered part of water stewardship — a concept that is incorporated as an evaluation criterion for granting extensions to the term of national water concessions.

However, with these 2023 and 2025 amendments to the National Water Law and the enactment of the General Water Law — changes that have such a significant impact on our country’s productive sectors — we foresee challenges that we must closely monitor to ensure they are properly addressed.

For the government, one of the main challenges is issuing the regulations necessary for the proper implementation of the legal reforms and the new law and subsequently applying them appropriately while prioritizing the human right to access water, without neglecting access for other productive sectors.

Likewise, it is expected that digital systems for filing and expediting procedures will be properly implemented, that administrative streamlining measures for resolving cases will function effectively, and that the administrative backlog in this area will be addressed.

The private sector must carry out proper planning for projects, including analyses of environmental feasibility, water availability, and the location of national watercourses and bodies of water, as well as the implementation of technology for water treatment, reuse, and recirculation, and stormwater harvesting.

In conclusion, we must wait for the new rules governing water resource management to be issued and, in the meantime, take steps to identify the actions that each sector can implement to ensure the sustainable use of water, since without this resource, there can be neither subsistence nor development.