Mexico, Mexico City: water authority head proposes new water tax

The director of Mexican national water authority Conagua, José Luis Luege Tamargo, has called for a new tax on water to cover the cost of wastewater treatment and reforestation, Conagua said in a release.

“The main challenges when it comes to water in Mexico Valley are recovering integrated water basin management, implementing territorial planning so Mexico City doesn’t keep growing horizontally, and recovering forests and gullies to encourage the replenishment of aquifers,” Luege Tamargo added.

In the new system each block of the city is divided into one of four economic categories, with the highest-earning areas receiving the lowest subsidies. However, users have encountered several flaws in the system and users in the Aragón neighborhood have been categorized as “middle class,” despite many houses in the area have corrugated iron roofs, paper Crónica reported.

Congresswoman Aleida Alavez Ruiz, from the leftist opposition party PRD, said that the tariff scheme is being revised, and adjustments will be made as a priority over the coming months, the report said.

Source: BNamericas.com, [subscription site], 22 Jan 2010.
Related news: CORRECTED: Mexico City battles water crisis with taxes, pleas, Reuters,4 January 2010.
Related site: National Water Commission - Conagua.

Keywords

• Latin America & Caribbean
• Financing
• Urban WASH
• Water supply