Water Compliance in Mexico Just Got Harder — And Personal.

 Mexico overhauled its water law in December 2025 and followed up in May 2026 with a National Water Program that sets enforcement priorities through 2030. Together, they eliminate the private transfer of water concessions, put a hard clock on unused water volumes, and — for the first time — create water crimes carrying prison terms for individuals, not fines for companies. Any business operating in Mexico with meaningful water use should assume these rules already apply and act accordingly, particularly given a 150,000-permit government backlog that leaves many companies uncertain of their own standing.

On December 11, 2025, Mexico enacted a new General Water Law and substantially amended its National Waters Law — the most significant restructuring of the country's water regime in over three decades. On May 18, 2026, the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) followed with its National Water Program 2026-2030, setting five policy objectives and 75 lines of action for implementation.

International firms flagged the reform for their large corporate clients within days of enactment. What has received less attention — and what matters most for companies without a dedicated Mexican water law advisor — is how far the new rules reach and how quickly enforcement is expected to tighten.

CONAGUA's own diagnosis is unusually candid: roughly 150,000 water permits remain unresolved, and the prior Public Registry of Water Rights was riddled with enough inconsistencies that the reform replaced it outright with a new National Water Registry (REPNA). The government's stated target is to clear 242,000 concession procedures by 2030, primarily by recovering 3 billion cubic meters of water currently idle or inefficiently used — agriculture alone holds more than 76% of concessioned water nationally, at irrigation efficiencies of just 33% to 55%.

For companies with an open transfer, extension, modification, or regularization request sitting in that backlog, this means operating today under a title the government has not finished processing.

What's Changing

Concession transfers are no longer a private matter. The reform eliminates the sale or transfer of water concessions between private parties. The only paths that remain — transfer tied to a property sale, corporate mergers or spin-offs, and inheritance — now require CONAGUA's express authorization. Changing the authorized use of a concession (agricultural to industrial, for example) is likewise no longer an administrative formality; it requires a formal approval process. Notably, the reform also severs the prior automatic link between land ownership and water rights: a buyer acquiring property no longer acquires the associated concession by default and must apply for a new title.

Idle water now runs on a strict clock. A concession holder that fails to use its full authorized volume for two consecutive years (eight quarters) may pay a guarantee fee to avoid partial forfeiture — but that fee is available for only two extensions, ever. After that, unused volume becomes subject to forfeiture. The implementing regulation for this mechanism was published in draft form on June 16, 2026, one week past the reform's own 180-day statutory deadline, and resets the clock for every existing title regardless of prior payment history.

Measurement and reuse move from best practice to expectation. The National Water Program prioritizes verifiable consumption data over administrative estimates as a core enforcement tool, and treats wastewater reuse as a standard companies should already be implementing, not a discretionary sustainability initiative.

Non-compliance now carries individual criminal exposure. The December 2025 reform criminalized conduct that previously fell outside the penal code, including: transporting illegally obtained national waters for profit; obstructing or diverting waterways without authorization in a manner endangering people, property, or ecosystems (3 months to 5 years imprisonment, plus a fine of 200 to 2,000 UMA); and tampering with measurement equipment to understate consumption (up to 9 years imprisonment, per specialized commentary). These offenses are prosecuted ex officio — a formal complaint is not required to open an investigation. Importantly, the reform left corporate criminal liability unchanged: the company itself cannot be criminally charged, but the individuals who acted, authorized, or knowingly failed to act — including signing officers — can be.

Practical Implications for Operators

Multinational operators with dedicated environmental compliance functions are, for the most part, already tracking this reform as one input among many. Mid-sized operations — plants, bottling facilities, agribusiness operations, hospitality groups — are considerably more exposed, both because they are statistically more likely to sit within CONAGUA's existing backlog, and because they typically lack the internal capacity to track a quarterly guarantee-fee clock or respond quickly once enforcement activity increases.

The exposure is no longer purely corporate. Boards and general counsel should treat the criminal provisions as a governance issue, not only a compliance one: someone within the organization is now personally exposed if water reporting is inaccurate, incomplete, or knowingly falsified.

Recommended Next Steps

• Confirm the current status of any concession in the new National Water Registry rather than assuming a filed application is in good standing.

• Replace estimated consumption reporting with verifiable metering, and assign clear internal ownership of the guarantee-fee deadline calendar.

• Audit any existing arrangement involving concession transfer, shared use across affiliates, or change of authorized use against the new prohibitions.

• Brief senior management and whoever signs consumption or compliance reports on the individual criminal exposure introduced by the reform.

• Build a documented water-efficiency file proactively, rather than in response to an inspection.

GEA Environmental Legal Intelligence advises companies, infrastructure funds, and institutional investors on environmental regulatory risk and compliance in Mexico, including water concession audits and CONAGUA permit regularization, with particular focus on mid-sized operators without in-house environmental counsel.

For a review of your organization's water compliance position, contact us contacto@gea.legal

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GEA – Environmental Legal Intelligence

Author: Patricia Moreno | Founding Partner, GEA Environmental Legal Intelligence | Environmental Attorney, Mexico | 15 years of multi-jurisdictional regulatory practice.

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