At risk, Healthy Water due to low volume of dams

The dams in the Comarca Lagunera are at a third of their manageable capacity, this is a considerably low level that has caused concern in the peasant sector, since if it does not improve, it would mean a minicycle next year, in addition to putting the Healthy Water program.

According to the report of the National Water Commission (Conagua), the Lázaro Cárdenas dam, better known as El Palmito, currently has a storage of 912 million cubic meters (Mm3), which is equivalent to 32 percent of its ordinary level, with an extraction of 111 cubic meters per second (m3/s) and income of just 4 m3/s.

As for the Francisco Zarco, also called Las Tórtolas, it has a volume of 109 Mm3, 35% of the Ordinary Maximum Water Level (NAMO), with outputs of 91 m3/s and inputs of 86 m3/s. Samuel Martínez, president of the National Peasant Confederation (CNC) in Lerdo and of irrigation module III, considered that, if this trend in terms of low rainfall continues, next year there would not even be the possibility of developing a mini agricultural cycle. in the region.

In this sense, he recalled that the federal program of Healthy Water for La Laguna would also be at risk because it requires a volume of the El Palmito dam to operate. Furthermore, he said that the dams They must have a volume of at least 15 to 20 percent for infrastructure conservation. Last year, at this same time, there was no information on the storage of the dams because Conagua had a hack in its systems, however, by June, according to the newspaper archive of El Siglo de Torreón, the volume in El Palmito was 61% and 57% in Las Tórtolas.

This December was the driest in the last decade for the Lázaro Cárdenas dam, it reached 48 percent storage. Overall, the main dams in the region report a considerable drop in their level this year.

The Lázaro Cárdenas dam is what governs the agricultural cycle in the Lagunera region. Researchers have questioned the viability of the Agua Saludable project, which needs 200 Mm3 of the dam to supply drinking water to nine municipalities in the region, according to Conagua itself. The lack of rain in the upper basin of the Nazas River adds to other factors such as soil erosion and deforestation of the mountains.

According to Conagua, drought in the region occurs cyclically, so, with regulation in the dam system, these times can be dealt with. However, the fear persists among farmers that, in a year where there is not enough contribution to the dams, the volume authorized for irrigation will be greatly affected, an activity on which nearly 35 thousand users of District 017 and its communities depend. families.