The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security - Unu-inweh ...

6. Conflict Over Access to and Control over Water in an Indigenous
Region of Mexico: The Case of the Mazahua People
As an example of such a situation in the Latin American region, the conflict of the Mazahua people for the defense of water is
an expression of the tensions between rural and urban areas due to the building of large hydraulic infrastructure in indigenous
peoples’ territories. The region where the Mazahua peoples are located is important because it provides one-third of the
water consumed in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, that is, 15 cubic meters per second. During the 1980s and 1990s, a
complex system of water supply known as the Cutzmala System, which implied the transfer of water from one watershed to
another, was constructed through dams, canals, tunnels, treatment plants, and pump systems, with a total length of around
300 km and a change in elevation of 1,100 metres.
The problem with the hydraulic works of the Cutzmala System is that they were constructed without considering the interests
of the local population (peasants and indigenous people), thereby affecting their rights related to the control of their territory
and natural resources (water). All of this was undertaken with federal public funds to favour the urban-industrial expansion
of Mexico City in the state of Mexico and the Federal District. The city’s interests were put before those of the country and,
consequently, the indigenous people’s rights were affected.
According to the 2010 census (INEGI, 2011), the indigenous population in Mexico was about 13 million people, representing
nearly 10% of the total population of the country. However, because of social exclusion, indigenous peoples live in situations
of high poverty and vulnerability: 85% of their municipalities have very high or high indexes of marginality; income levels are
among the lowest in the country, as their main activity is subsistence farming. In addition, their access to public infrastructure
and services is unequal: the percentage of houses having water and electrical services is below the national average, and
localities with a higher indigenous population have limited access to water, with 42% of houses lacking piped water supply.
One of the reasons for the deficient supply of water to indigenous peoples’ regions, predominantly in rural settlements, is the
nearly absent public investment in water supply and sanitization. This situation was made evident in a study of five indigenous
regions in Mexico (Ávila, 2007) showing deficiencies in access to piped water supply: 78% of houses lack the service in the
Tarahumara area; 75% in the Mazahua area; 41% in the Purépecha area; 32% in the Mixteca area; and 39% in the Nahua area.
To this must be added: the problems of the frequency of water supply (two or three times per week, for a few hours at a time);
the inaccessibility of supply sources (springs up to 10 km away); and, the low quality of the water being consumed (pollution
of superficial and groundwater supplies).
The amount of public investment aimed at solving problems of access to water in indigenous regions is reduced to such a degree
that the Mexican government will have difficulties in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. For example, during 2004,
the per capita federal aid for drinking water supply and water sanitation was US $7.70 in the Tarahumara area, while these
values were US $5.00, US $1.70, US $0.90, and US $0.20 in the Mazahua, Nahua, Purépecha and Mixteca areas, respectively.
These budgets make clear that the indigenous regions are not a priority for the Mexican government, and that there will
continue to be an increase in the occurrence of problems of access to an adequate quantity and quality of water (Ávila, 2007).
Similarly, social inequity in indigenous regions of Mexico and the subordination of rural areas to urban areas in terms of projects
involving the extraction of strategic natural resources from their territories (water, forest products, minerals), have been an
important cause in the appearance of social conflicts. The case of the ‘Mazahua Women’s Movement for the Defense of Water’
is a clear example of the rising tensions between the state and indigenous peoples.
The social and environmental costs of the Cutzamala System were very high for the Mazahua people: the transfer to the valley of
Mexico of an important volume of water narrowed their possibilities for development without even satisfying their basic needs
(access to water and food production). The reduction in water volume affected lacustrine and riparian ecosystems: a number
of marshland areas and rivers became dry. In addition, the polluted discharge from the Los Berros water purification plant, part
of the Cutzamala System, was poured untreated into a stream used by several Mazahua settlements. Fish and plants died due
to the high concentration of toxic substances, and the stream never again became a source of life and food for the population.
As a result of the limited access to drinking water (75% of the population lacks a supply), and of the pollution of water, the
indigenous population organized themselves for the defense of this resource. Between 2004 and 2006, the collective actions
of the Mazahua women included social mobilization (marches, demonstrations, sits, hunger strikes) and symbolic takeovers of
hydraulic installations and buildings of the Cutzamala System. Their proposal went beyond access and management of water
146 The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security Issue