“You can’t give water exploitation permits where there is none”: AMLO

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), trusted that state governments and the National Water Commission (Conagua), become aware of the care and exploitation of water.
During the morning press conference, the president said that “you can no longer deliver permits to exploit water where there is no or where the population has grown a lot.”
“We must not do what Mexicali did that gave concessions to the constellation beer company and compromised the water of the population,” said the president.
The cancellation of the Constellation Brands brewery was announced in March 2020 after a consultation promoted by López Obrador, where 76% of the participants voted against the project.

Photo: Cuartoscuro
Read: Faced with crisis in Nuevo León, AMLO launches plan to guarantee water supply for 10 years
Controversy of the brewery plant
In April 2015, the company Constellation Brands presented a project to build a brewery in Mexicali, Baja California, which was approved and announced by the then governor, Francisco Vega.

At that time, an initial investment of one thousand 500 million dollars and the generation of 750 permanent jobs were announced.
However, the population showed their discontent when it became known that the plant could affect the water supply in the region by consuming 5.8 million cubic meters of water per year.
Project changes
Faced with the protest and rejection of the population, President López Obrador stressed that the businessmen were asked to choose another headquarters for the brewery.
“I told them to look in the southeast, there is water there, and we helped them in everything and they did it and already in Veracruz, near the port, all the studies were done. There the water for domestic use is not affected, they bought 300 hectares and there they began to build the plant, “he explained.
López Obrador pointed out that 70 percent of Mexico’s water is in the southeast, an area where you can work since “there is land and labor force.”
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Original source in Spanish