Water policies in Mexico

The National Water Commission (CNA) is the federal agency in charge of the administration and custody of water resources. The Mexican water industry including provision of drinking water, sewerage, sewage treatment and disposal, environmental functions, and community services like flood protection and dams security, is not a monolithic one, however since 1989, the national policy in this area has been to reduce, as much as possible, the number of public offices involved in water resources decision-making processes. The creation of the CNA must be envisaged within this objective, i.e., within the final purpose of having a unique authority dealing with all problems stemming from the water provision, distribution, use and management. This reform was intended to augment the CNA capabilities to face its challenges. Such challenges are huge and from different nature, and the following article is written to present a general view of the main strategies designed by the CNA to modernize the water industry, under three basic areas: (1) use of water resources and infrastructure, (2) efficient management of water resources and (3) modernization of the water industry organizational structure.