Governor of Coahuila calls for restrictions on extractions from the La Amistad dam

CIUDAD ACUÑA, Coahuila.- The governor of Coahuila, Manolo Jiménez Salinas, announced that, during President Claudia Sheinbaum's recent visit to the state, she pointed out that the storage level at the La Amistad dam is very low, making it not the best time to extract water and comply with the payment demanded by the United States.

"I told him it was a complicated issue for Acuña, that the dam isn't at its best because it has a very low water storage percentage, and that if we're planning to extract some of this water, it's very important to compensate for it with other projects for this city and the dam itself," he said.

He stated that he authorized a fund for works related to the supply of drinking water to prevent further reductions in the storage level at the La Amistad International Dam.

"So that not all of Acuña's water comes from the dam or the Rio Grande, but rather we can have other sources of consumption or supply in parallel. Similar projects will also be implemented for Piedras Negras, and for the agricultural sector from here to the municipality of Hidalgo, Coahuila," he stated.

Meanwhile, a review of the water accounting for the La Amistad and Falcón dams, located in Coahuila and Tamaulipas, respectively, shows that the amount of water stored in the La Amistad and Falcón dams, owned by Mexico, has decreased in one month.

At the beginning of April, the total water storage in both dams was 1.253 billion cubic meters, of which 361 million belonged to Mexico and the rest, 891 million, to the United States. However, by May 3, the total storage of both dams amounted to 1.153 billion cubic meters, of which 216 million belong to Mexico and 937 million to the United States, according to the publication made by the National Water Commission on May 15.

This means that, without the need for transfers, water is being provided to the neighboring country, allowing them to own the water stored in these reservoirs.

It was in April that U.S. President Donald Trump began pressuring Mexico to advance water payments for the cycle ending next October.

Jorge Luis López Rodríguez, a member of the Río Bravo Basin Council, warned of this measure weeks ago. In an interview with Proceso, he said that disposing of water stored in dams to advance payment for the cycle that ends in October violates the 1944 International Water Treaty, and also puts the agricultural cycle in the region at risk.