The Future of Water in Mexico: 10 Key Points from the New National Water Program

The biggest leak in Mexico is not Water; it’s Money.

In May 2026, the National Water Program 2026–2030 was published in Mexico's Official Gazette (DOF).

Prepared by the National Water Commission (CONAGUA), this document will guide Mexico's water policies throughout the current federal administration and beyond.

In light of this milestone, a key question emerges: Is this new program a proactive strategy to address the country's water challenges, or a delayed response to an increasingly critical situation?

Explore the 10 key points of the National Water Program and discover how it aims to address corruption, improve governance, and promote a more equitable distribution of water resources across Mexico.

10 key points from the New National Water Program

The governmental document recognizes that Mexico faces a resource crisis derived from the overexploitation of aquifers, contamination of water bodies, unequal access, infrastructure deficiencies, and the growing effects of climate change.

To address this situation, this program proposes solutions distributed across five objectives: strengthening water governance; guaranteeing access to the human right to water; promoting efficient use in the agricultural, industrial, and service sectors; sustainable management of basins and aquifers; and reducing vulnerability to climate change.

The following are ten relevant points from the document.

1. Combatting Corruption and Administrative Disorder

One of the most drastic changes is the creation of the National Public Water Registry (REPNA), which replaces the former Public Registry of Water Rights (REPDA).

This new, unique database seeks to eliminate historical inconsistencies, ensure efficient management, and prevent corruption. Furthermore, a Single Digital Window (Ventanilla Digital Única [image below]) will be implemented to reduce response times for citizen procedures from 60 to just 30 days.

In addition, the program seeks to digitize and streamline administrative procedures, improve the inspection and surveillance of the use of national waters, and strengthen the application of environmental sanctions.

2. Special Review of Concessions

An exhaustive review of more than 500,000 current concession and assignment titles will be undertaken.

The objective is to correct irregularities, prevent the issuance of volumes exceeding the basins’ actual availability, and recover unused water to reincorporate it into the national reserve fund.

3. Hydraulic Infrastructure Must Be Modernized and Optimized

The National Water Program recognizes that a large part of the federal infrastructure presents significant delays in maintenance, rehabilitation, and modernization.

The lines of action propose:

• Reducing leaks in distribution networks.
• Improving the physical and commercial efficiency of operating agencies.
• Modernizing pumping infrastructure.
• Increasing metering and monitoring.
• Incorporating specialized technological tools.

The need to strengthen the technical and administrative capacities of municipal operating agencies, many of which face financial and operational problems, is also highlighted.

4. Sanitation and Wastewater Treatment Will Be Priority Issues

With the intention of reducing health risks and strengthening water availability for productive uses, the program will seek to increase treatment coverage, modernize existing plants and their operations and maintenance, reduce contaminant discharges, and promote the safe reuse of treated water.

Low water levels at La Boca Reservoir (2022). Wikipedia

5. Technification of the Mexican Countryside

Since agriculture accounts for more than 76% of water use in Mexico, improving sectoral efficiency is the aim. The modernization of hydro-agricultural infrastructure will not only increase rural productivity but will also allow the recovery of enormous volumes of liquid to be redirected to human consumption.

Finally, the plan also calls for reducing losses in canals and networks, promoting efficient technologies, encouraging the reuse of treated water, incentivizing technological innovation, and reducing pressure on aquifers and surface bodies.

6. Guaranteeing the Human Right to Water, Support for Communities, and Gender Perspective

The program seeks to consolidate more efficient, equitable, and sustainable services, especially for communities with greater historical lags, such as rural, peri-urban areas, and Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples.

Furthermore, the legal recognition of community systems as legitimate organizations managing the service will be promoted. By granting them legal status, the State will be able to provide direct technical, legal, and budgetary support, thereby promoting sustainable technologies, traditional practices, and eco-techniques.

Finally, the plan establishes that a higher percentage of federal investment (subsidies) will be granted to those operating agencies and community water systems that integrate women into their decision-making positions in equal or greater proportion.

7. Circular Economy in Industry

The strategies promote the development of technologies for treating and reusing water in productive processes, in line with the principles of the circular economy.

In parallel, agreements will be negotiated for companies to return to the country the volumes of conceded water they do not use, allocating them to national reserves and to population consumption.

8. Urgent Rescue of the Most Contaminated Rivers

A fundamental line of action is the cleaning and ecological restoration of the most degraded water bodies, prioritizing the sanitation of the Tula, Atoyac, and Lerma-Santiago rivers.

Additionally, the “Adopt a River” initiative will be implemented so that at least one water body is recovered in each federative entity, accompanied by much stricter quality monitoring and the updating of the National Inventory of Wetlands.