Dear Clients and Friends:
On December 4, 2025, Mexico’s Congress of the Union and the Senate approved the new General Water Law, which replaces the current framework and directly regulates the human right to water established in Article 4 of the Mexican Constitution. The reform will take effect once it is published in the Official Federal Gazette, redefining the institutional architecture of the water sector and establishing new foundations for the administration, distribution, supervision, and use of national waters.
One of the most significant changes is the creation of a Water Authority vested with broader regulatory, inspection, and enforcement powers, including the ability to access classified information when related to alleged violations, as well as to impose corrective measures, suspensions, closures, revocations, and monetary penalties.
Water planning becomes mandatory through a national scheme consisting of ten successive six-year phases. These plans must account for water availability, climate change, demographic trends, hydrological conditions, forest cover, ecosystem health, and other variables that influence hydrological balance.
The reform also introduces new operational definitions, including treated wastewater, water security, water responsibility, family agricultural use, and overexploitation—defined as extraction that exceeds the natural capacity for recovery. Additionally, the Public Water Rights Registry is renamed the National Water Registry, and community water systems are formally recognized as participants in local water management.
Regarding water concessions and assignments, the reform provides that granted rights may not be transferred by any means. Instead, it establishes a reassignment regime administered by the Water Authority, supported by the creation of a National Water Reserve Fund composed of volumes obtained from extinguished titles, transfers in favor of the authority, and preferential rights scenarios.
A dedicated chapter on wastewater reuse is added, requiring that its treatment and use comply with official standards, specific discharge conditions, and international best practices. Any use other than personal, domestic, or family agricultural use will require express authorization from the Water Authority.
The sanctions regime is modernized and now includes fines, temporary or permanent closures, suspension and revocation of titles, and new criminal penalties. It classifies as an offense the intentional transfer of illegally extracted national waters and the unauthorized alteration of channels or streams that results in hydraulic impacts or risks to individuals, along with specific sanctions for corruption related to the granting or request of concessions or permits.
Taken as a whole, the reform establishes a more stringent model of control, oversight, and reassignment of water resources, with direct implications for all productive sectors that rely on access to national waters and on full compliance with their administrative, technical, and environmental obligations.
Should you have any questions or comments regarding the foregoing, please do not hesitate to call your usual contact with the Firm.
Mining
Pablo Méndez / pablo.mendez@ecrubio.com
Alejandro Guerra / alejandro.guerra@ecrubio.com
Jorge Hernández / jorge.hernandez@ecrubio.com
Daniel Rico / daniel.rico@ecrubio.com
Martín Miranda / martin.miranda@ecrubio.com
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