Mexico & Nafta - 23 September 2003
Rains trigger debate
Water has always been a sensitive issue in Mexico. The current rainy season has been bountiful across the centre of the country. This has replenished reservoirs and rivers and gone some way to alleviating the damage cause by the long drought in the centre and north of the country.
The worry for some commentators is that the good rainy season will mean that the issue of how households, business and agriculture share the country's water resources will be sidelined. Mexico's need for water is acute as its population rises and urbanises. Mexico City, home to a quarter of the country's people, is a particularly spendthrift user of water. Most of its supplies have to be pumped from reservoirs hundreds of miles away. Lack of investment in mains and other infrastructure means that a lot of the water is wasted. Users, furthermore, do not pay a realistic price for the water they use.
Damage
The heavy rains during the first half of September in Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Michoacán have left around 50,000 people homeless. The interior ministry has committed M$170m (US$16m) in aid to help them.
The interior minister, Santiago Creel Miranda, said that the rains this year had been the heaviest for many years. So far this year, he said, 34 states of emergency had been declared across the country: of these 23 were due to the heavy rain and tropical storms. Roads, especially in Querétaro and Guanajuato, have been flooded.
The worry for some commentators is that the good rainy season will mean that the issue of how households, business and agriculture share the country's water resources will be sidelined. Mexico's need for water is acute as its population rises and urbanises. Mexico City, home to a quarter of the country's people, is a particularly spendthrift user of water. Most of its supplies have to be pumped from reservoirs hundreds of miles away. Lack of investment in mains and other infrastructure means that a lot of the water is wasted. Users, furthermore, do not pay a realistic price for the water they use.
Damage
The heavy rains during the first half of September in Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Michoacán have left around 50,000 people homeless. The interior ministry has committed M$170m (US$16m) in aid to help them.
The interior minister, Santiago Creel Miranda, said that the rains this year had been the heaviest for many years. So far this year, he said, 34 states of emergency had been declared across the country: of these 23 were due to the heavy rain and tropical storms. Roads, especially in Querétaro and Guanajuato, have been flooded.