A CONFRONTATION OF RIGHTS: WATER AND TERRITORY IN MEXICAN HYDRAULIC POLICY

Abstract

Access to water is an unquestionable right in the 21st century as it is collected by laws or regulations with different scope. In contexts where shortages begin to be predominant, how far does that right go? Is it unlimited? Should others be subordinated to their achievement? If so, in what cases? Can, for example, divert water from its natural courses to ensure economic development of spaces far from its channels? Can territories be flooded by displacing their population to maintain macroeconomic economic policies? We show results of an ethnographic investigation in the region of Los Altos de Jalisco, in Mexico, once the government of that country promoted the construction of a hydraulic system called El Zapotillo, to fulfill the right to water they have the inhabitants of the cities. Consequence of these works will be the disappearance under the waters of a territory that includes villages, ranches, farmland, roads, etc. Our ethnography analyzes how the conflict over El Zapotillo triggered a social emergency with the participation of both local and global agents. This conflict reveals ways to manage water and new questions like How to overcome the paradox of a justice is seen as an injustice that plunges land, water and resources to humans considered as non-depository of rights?