Once the deadline for delivering 249 million cubic meters of water to the United States passed on Saturday, the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum chose to punish farmers in Tamaulipas by leaving them without enough water to irrigate their crops, producers denounced.
Although official reports have not yet been updated, the water allocation was met by taking 150 million cubic meters from the El Cuchillo Dam, the main source of drinking water for the Monterrey metropolitan area, and the remainder from the international dams La Amistad and Falcon.
Jorge Luis López, president of the Tamaulipas State Agricultural Council, questioned the President’s assurance that the water shipment would not affect Mexicans and pointed out that at least 50,000 hectares in Irrigation District 025 were not planted due to the lack of water. District 025 depends on the La Amistad and Falcón reservoirs, while the neighboring District 026 is supplied by the Marte R. Gómez Dam in Tamaulipas, and this agricultural cycle did have water.
“Many water concession holders in District 025,” López lamented, “have at least 50,000 hectares left unplanted due to lack of moisture, and the planted areas will depend on rainfall.”
In October, Mexico completed its five-year cycle of Rio Grande water deliveries to the United States, totaling only 1.0426 billion cubic meters of the 2.1586 billion it was obligated to send. As a result, Donald Trump demanded an additional delivery in December under the threat of tariffs.
Source: eldiariodedelicias
