Neoliberalism and Commodity Production in Mexico

6. Disjuncture between Economic Policy and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources: Water Case Studies in Sonora, Mexico

115 S i x DisjuncturebetweenEconomicPolicyand SustainableUseofNaturalResources WaterCaseStudiesinSonora,Mexico AnneBrowning-Aiken For the border states of northern Mexico, water has increasingly become a strategic value as economic development and migration contribute to exponential growth (Lorey 1999). A long history of over-pumping the aquifers, associated with rapid population growth, has led to widespread water scarcity that has intensified in recent years as the result of a prolonged drought. Expansion of the mining industry and privatization of municipal water systems have complicated the management and distribution of water in northern Mexico, while intensification of agriculture —associated with the increased penetration of global capitalism and transnational corporations into northern Mexico—has further depleted water resources. Sonora ranks among the top five contributing states to agricultural GDP nationwide (Magaña and Conde 2000), and it is the most highly irrigated of the Mexican states, with 15 percent of Mexico’s total irrigated land. Sonora has seven of Mexico’s eighty-one large commercial irrigation districts and alone produces nearly 30 percent of Mexico’s wheat and virtually all of the country’s table grape exports; in addition, it ranks in the top five states for both beef and pork production (Carter 2002; Wilder 2002). At the same time, 12 percent of the border population lacks safe drinking water, and over 30 percent of residents face health 116 AnneBrowning-Aiken problems because of the absence of wastewater, solid waste treatment, or both (Whiteford and Melville 2002:10). Toxic chemicals associated with mining and agricultural pesticides enter drainage canals and water systems (Browning-Aiken 2000; Varady, Romero Lankao, and Hankins 2001:27). Yet access to affordable potable water in arid northern Mexico is key to the sustainability of municipal and agricultural development. Moreover, the lack of access to water is a barrier to participation in agricultural and mineral production (Hewitt de Alcantara 1976:119–122; Wilder and Whiteford 2006; Yates 1981:64, 68–87) and to the health, welfare, and general productive capacity of the Mexican border population in both the short and long term. This chapter will argue—based on empirical evidence from case studies in northern Sonora—that Mexico’s water, mining, and agricultural reforms have seriously impacted water quality and provision of water services in urban areas and now threaten the region’s long-term economic and environmental stability. As a development strategy, the neoliberal paradigm has in many cases resulted in less local control of water and land assets, in ways that jeopardize northern Mexico’s competitive edge in free trade agreements. Further, Nicholás Pineda Pablos has noted about water management in northern Mexico that “urban water constitutes a vantage point from which to study and test political development. Since water stands as a power instrument, the way decisions about water are made and how water is managed signal critical aspects of intergovernmental relations, local governance, and bottom-up inputs to policy making” (1999:6). This chapter begins with a brief look at the basic premises of neoliberal reforms in Mexico in the areas of agriculture, mining, and water and then examines the geographic and institutional contexts for two Sonoran water case studies . From this, the chapter links neoliberal reforms to the political processes and power struggle over water resources and distribution at the municipal level. The case studies illustrate how municipal governments and large industrial (mining) and agricultural corporations struggle with policy goals and contradictions and how urban water users get caught up in a vicious cycle of poor water service and nonpayment. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of the disjuncture between policy and practice for growth and development in northern Mexico and suggests potential ways for water users, municipal governments, and industry to work together toward more mutually beneficial water management practices. Neoliberal Reforms in Mexican Agriculture, Mining, and Water The present and future development of Sonoran agriculture and municipal growth reflects changes that began in Mexico in the 1980s. The neoliberal reform 117 Disjuncture between Economic Policy and Sustainable Use process followed a series of strategies: reducing budget deficits by overcoming inflation through currency devaluation, generating a trade surplus by removing price controls, suppressing imports, and encouraging foreign investment (stabilization ). These strategies were accompanied by a reduction in the state’s role (deregulation) through privatization of the parastatal (state-owned companies), wage and price freezes, and withdrawal of government subsidies and expenditures for social services (austerity measures) (De Grammont 2004). The original...