Water Use Rights Form Mexico — CONAGUA (Solicitud de Concesión de Derechos de Uso de Agua)

The Water Use Rights Form Mexico (Solicitud de Concesión o Asignación de Derechos de Uso de Agua Nacional) is the official application instrument through which individuals, companies, and public entities request authorization from the Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA) to extract, use, exploit, or discharge into national waters (aguas nacionales) under the Ley de Aguas Nacionales (LAN), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 1 December 1992 and substantially reformed in 2004. Article 21 of the LAN establishes that no person or entity may exploit, use, or take national waters without a concession (concesión) or assignment (asignación) granted by CONAGUA — the federal authority responsible for managing, preserving, and distributing Mexico's national water resources.

National waters (aguas nacionales) under Article 27 of the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos and Article 3 of the LAN include rivers and their tributaries, streams, lakes, lagoons, estuaries, bays, and all surface and groundwater bodies whose flow or supply passes through two or more states, as well as all coastal and transboundary waters. Groundwater (aguas del subsuelo) in aquifers designated as federal zones (zonas de veda or zonas reglamentadas) is also classified as national water requiring a CONAGUA concession under Article 18 LAN. The distinction between national water (requiring CONAGUA concession) and state or private water sources (regulated by state environmental authorities) is critical for compliance — most economically significant aquifers and river systems in Mexico are classified as national.

CONAGUA grants two types of authorization: concesiones to private parties (personas físicas and personas morales) for agricultural, industrial, commercial, aquaculture, hydroelectric, and other private uses; and asignaciones to federal, state, and municipal government entities for public water supply and sanitation services. Both types are governed by the LAN and registered in the Registro Público de Derechos de Agua (REPDA) — Mexico's national water rights registry maintained by CONAGUA under Articles 32 through 35 LAN.

The REPDA registration of a water concession constitutes public notice of the holder's water use rights and is essential for their enforcement against third parties, for securing financing using water rights as collateral (though this is technically complex under Mexican law), and for demonstrating regulatory compliance during environmental audits by the Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA) or the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT). CONAGUA manages Mexico's water resources through thirteen regional water basin organizations (Organismos de Cuenca) and twenty-six regional CONAGUA offices, each responsible for a specific hydrological region (región hidrológico-administrativa).

The concession application process under Article 21 LAN requires submission of technical, legal, and environmental documentation to the relevant Organismo de Cuenca or CONAGUA regional office. The technical study (estudio técnico de disponibilidad) demonstrating available water volume in the relevant aquifer or surface body is typically the most challenging element to prepare — CONAGUA publishes aquifer availability studies (estudios de disponibilidad de acuíferos) periodically, and applications for volumes exceeding available capacity in over-exploited aquifers (acuíferos sobreexplotados) require additional justification or may be denied pending aquifer recovery.

Mexico faces acute water scarcity across its northern and central regions, with 105 of the country's 653 aquifers classified as over-exploited (sobreexplotados) according to CONAGUA's most recent national hydrological balance. The Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT) oversees CONAGUA's regulatory decisions and sets national water policy under the Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente (LGEEPA). Applicants operating in aquifer regions subject to veda zones — where new extraction permits are frozen — must demonstrate either that their application falls within an authorized exception or that they are substituting for an existing cancelled concession.

The Water Use Rights Form Mexico is required in every circumstance where a private or public entity proposes to extract, use, divert, exploit, or discharge into national waters, as defined by Article 3 of the Ley de Aguas Nacionales and the national water classification maps maintained by CONAGUA.

Agricultural users — individual farmers, ejido communities (ejidos and comunidades agrarias governed by the Ley Agraria), and agribusiness corporations — need a water concession when irrigating crops using water extracted from a federal aquifer, river, or canal system. Agriculture accounts for approximately 75% of total national water concession volume in Mexico. Agricultural concession applications are processed through CONAGUA's agricultural water programs and may involve technical assistance from the Comisión Nacional de Zonas Áridas (CONAZA) or the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASICA) for specialized crops.

Industrial users — manufacturing plants (plantas industriales), mining operations (empresas mineras), petroleum extractors (empresas petroleras under PEMEX or private concessionaires under the 2013 energy reform), and thermoelectric power plants — require water concessions for cooling systems, industrial processes, and discharge into national water bodies. Industrial water concessions typically require simultaneous authorization for discharge (permiso de descarga) under Article 88 LAN, as treated industrial effluent returned to national water bodies is separately regulated by Official Mexican Standards (NOMs) issued by SEMARNAT.

Commercial and real estate developers need water concessions when developing properties that will extract groundwater for potable supply, construction, or other uses where the local municipal water system (sistema de agua potable municipal) cannot provide sufficient supply. Condominium developments, industrial parks, and resort projects in water-scarce regions frequently require private CONAGUA concessions to supplement municipal supply.

The form is also needed when an existing concession holder needs to transfer (cesión de derechos) water rights to a new owner following a property transaction, since Article 24 LAN requires CONAGUA authorization for any transfer or assignment of concession rights. Water concession rights accompany land but do not transfer automatically with the land — a separate administrative process with CONAGUA is required to update the REPDA registration after a real property sale.

Mining companies operating under concessions granted by the Secretaría de Economía under the Ley Minera also require separate CONAGUA water concessions for extraction, processing, and tailings management — the mineral concession does not authorize water use. Applications must be coordinated between the relevant Organismo de Cuenca and the state environmental authority to satisfy both the LAN and LGEEPA requirements before operations begin.

A complete Water Use Rights application under LAN Article 21 must include the following elements specified in the LAN, its Reglamento, and CONAGUA's published application guidelines (Lineamientos para la Gestión de Concesiones y Asignaciones de Aguas Nacionales).

Applicant Identification: Full legal name or razón social of the applicant, RFC, CURP (for individuals), domicilio fiscal, and official identity document (INE/IFE, passport, or corporate constitutive act and poder notarial for legal entities). For agricultural applicants who are members of an ejido or comunidad agraria, documentation of ejidal rights (certificados de derechos ejidales or parcelarios issued by the Registro Agrario Nacional — RAN) is required.

Description of the Water Source: Identification of the specific national water body — aquifer name (nombre del acuífero), hydrological basin (cuenca hidrológica), sub-basin (subcuenca), and CONAGUA's official geographic identifier for the water body. For groundwater applications, the geographic coordinates (UTM or geographic latitude/longitude) of the proposed extraction point (punto de extracción) and the depth and technical specifications of the well (pozo) or extraction infrastructure must be provided. For surface water applications, the location on the relevant river or canal system with geodetic coordinates is required.

Requested Volume and Use Type: The total annual water volume requested in cubic meters per year (m³/año) and the specific use category (uso agrícola, uso industrial, uso de servicios, uso doméstico, uso acuícola, etc.) as classified under CONAGUA's standard use taxonomy. The requested volume must be justified by technical studies demonstrating actual need and must not exceed the available water volume in the relevant aquifer or surface body per CONAGUA's published availability studies.

Technical Study (Estudio Técnico): A technical feasibility study prepared by a competent engineer (ingeniero civil, hidrogeólogo, or equivalent professional) certifying the technical characteristics of the proposed extraction infrastructure, estimated extraction volumes, impact on the local aquifer or surface water body, and compliance with CONAGUA's technical standards for extraction works. For industrial and large agricultural applications, an environmental impact assessment (manifestación de impacto ambiental — MIA) under the Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente (LGEEPA) may be required alongside the water concession application.

Proof of Land Rights: Documentation demonstrating the applicant's legal right to use the land where the water extraction point is located — title deed (escritura de propiedad) registered with the Registro Público de la Propiedad, ejidal rights certificate (certificado parcelario), lease agreement (contrato de arrendamiento), or other instrument establishing lawful access to the extraction point. Article 21 LAN requires that applicants have a legal nexus to the land from which water will be extracted.

Discharge Authorization: For applications involving return of water to national water bodies after use, a simultaneous permiso de descarga application under LAN Article 88 must be filed, specifying the volume, quality parameters, discharge point location, and treatment infrastructure to be used. CONAGUA and SEMARNAT coordinate discharge permit review with the concession application for industrial users.

Forms-legal.com provides this Water Use Rights Form Mexico template as a reference for applicants preparing CONAGUA concession submissions. Given the technical, environmental, and hydrological complexity of water concession applications, all applications should be prepared with the assistance of a licensed civil engineer (ingeniero civil titulado) with hydrogeological expertise and a lawyer (abogado) specializing in aguas nacionales and environmental law under the LAN and LGEEPA. CONAGUA's Organismos de Cuenca publish regional application guidelines with specific technical format requirements that applicants must follow for their hydrological region.