Chihuahua—Agrarian activist Eraclio “Yako” Rodríguez considered that the depletion of the state’s aquifers has generated an ecocide, a product of hundreds of illegal concessions and wells that the National Water Commission (Conagua) allowed in the last three federal administrations.
The excessive extraction of water caused the pumped irrigation hectares to grow from 16,000 to 42,000 in Namiquipa; and in Riva Palacio, from 980 to nine thousand 355 hectares, for the benefit, mainly, of Mennonite producers. Despite this overwhelming growth in groundwater extraction, Rodríguez said, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) intends to invest around six billion pesos in substations to continue energizing illegal wells, the result of acts of corruption of which he accused the current representative Brenda Ríos and her husband Alex LeBaron, former delegates of the Environment and Conagua. The former federal deputy also showed an official document from Conagua where they list 395 certificates for the extraction of water in Cuauhtémoc, Riva Palacio and Namiquipa, all processed irregularly in a few years. The document is the response that, on January 30, 2015, Alex LeBaron, as local director of Conagua in Chihuahua, gave to a query from Hugo Alberto Niebla Mendoza, head of the Northern Commercial Directorate of the CFE, to know the status legal status of wells and concessions granted by the authority in charge of managing national waters. In this, LeBaron recognizes that there are registration forms for concession records, without documentation proving the way in which said permits were delivered, when the availability of water was increasingly less. In reality, “Yako” Rodríguez stated, all of these permits were processed with sums that ranged from 12,500 to 25,000 dollars, with which the water concessionaires paid federal officials from Conagua, the Federal Electricity Commission and judges. , to have the uses that they currently maintain and have been the cause of ecocide in the state. The activist explained that, after legal disputes over the operation of these wells, judicial resolutions were issued in which the judges ordered the granting of concessions according to the availability of water, which is why titles were issued for wells with a volume of one cubic meter each. However, thanks to corruption in Conagua, which also reached the judges, those resolutions were later reviewed and they were granted titles for extraction of up to one million 400 thousand cubic meters per well per year, when the average in the state is 340 thousand cubic meters per well. “It is an outrage, it is an illegal and irrational exploitation of natural resources,” said Rodríguez, who considered that the most serious thing is that now the former Environment delegate who made this corruption plot possible, Brenda Ríos, formerly of the Green Party, today is a local deputy, only for Morena, while her husband was in charge of Conagua.
More CFE energy for illegal wells
The lack of control in water extraction, generated by corruption in the delivery of concessions, adds to the drought suffered in the last two years and the exploitation of surface waters.
This, pointed out the leader of El Barzón in a large region of the state, has led to environmental devastation that is suffered more intensely by the majority of producers who do not have access to credit or government support, concentrated in a few hands, through of the national and state agricultural councils, which represent the interests of rich producers. Given this devastation and serious situation faced by farmers in the social sector affected by their crops, there is no openness on the part of the state or federal governments to at least dialogue and look for alternatives that allow them to survive. Currently, he reported, to those wells opened by corruption, the CFE seeks to satisfy the demand for the extraction of more water, when practically all of the state’s aquifers in productive areas are depleted or show disproportionate deficits. In Riva Palacio, he noted, the CFE intends to invest 1.5 billion pesos in a new substation that will meet the demand for wells to extract more water from the subsoil, a situation that exists in Bachíniva, Ascención and Janos, where the parastatal contemplates greater infrastructure. despite the demonstrated irregularity with which water is exploited in Chihuahua. “They do have about six billion pesos to invest in more substations to electrify more wells, but not to support the agricultural production of those who need it most; Yes, they have it for that, but not to build hospitals, to maintain roads, to meet other real needs,” he declared. He added that the producers are not against the CFE building more substations and investing more infrastructure, but they are against it being to regularize this well operation that arose from corruption in Conagua and that has caused the decline of the groundwater tables and puts the viability of the state at risk. This looting of natural resources, he considered, began in the early 2000s and became more acute in the last decade, just as with Felipe Calderón as with Enrique Peña Nieto and Andrés Manuel López Obrador as presidents of the Republic; In the same way, the governments of César Duarte, Javier Corral and the current one headed by Maru Campos never addressed these serious problems. Not even in the six-year term that ended under López Obrador, he said, was this claim by the farmers of Chihuahua addressed, in the face of the blatant theft of water, from which officials from Conagua and the CFE benefited, who did such juicy business that not even the wealthiest rural producers have achieved.
Irrigated agriculture triggered aquifer expenditure
“Yako” Rodríguez presented the situation faced by the municipalities of Namiquipa and Riva Palacio, to give an example of how agriculture sustained exclusively with subsoil water has evolved, in a region where the problem of illegal wells has grown the most, that the CFE intends to guarantee them energy, despite the demonstrated deficit that the Baja Babícora and Santa Clara aquifers have, similar to that faced by more than 30 of the 61 that exist in Chihuahua.
In Namiquipa, the total agricultural area has decreased from 115 thousand hectares in 2003 to 86 thousand arable hectares until last year. However, the hectares of pump irrigation 20 years ago were 16 thousand, while almost 100 thousand were rainfed and currently the irrigated hectares are 42 thousand, more than double, while the rainfed hectares are barely 43 thousand. That is, the area irrigated with subsoil water more than doubled, while the temporary area fell to less than half of what it was two decades ago. In Riva Palacio, with more than 50 thousand arable hectares in 2003, of which only 980 were irrigated and the rest seasonal; Now the agricultural area has decreased to 38,000, but the area that requires subsoil water extraction has grown to 9,355, almost 10 times more. All of this growth has been notably irregular and has exclusively benefited Mennonites and large businessmen, who also have privileged access to government support. On the other hand, other producers who do not have access to water or financing or any other subsidy will have to lose more than 3.36 billion this year simply by not being able to produce 800 thousand tons of corn and another 80 thousand tons of beans. Given the change in federal administration, he considered, there is no hope that the claims of peasant producers will be addressed to seek alternatives that will serve to alleviate environmental damage and improve the conditions of agricultural production in Chihuahua. For this reason, Rodríguez called for state and federal authorities to urgently open spaces for dialogue with producers, as the only way to make the vital primary sector of the entity sustainable and generate more dignified and equitable conditions for those who work the land and They are responsible for producing the most important foods in households.
[email protected]
#CFE #invest #million #pesos #energize #illegal #wells