Submission

Summary of the matter addressed in the submission:

The Submitter asserts that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws to uphold water quality standards and ensure pollutants in the Madín Dam Basin remain within legal limits. The Submitter maintains that the ineffective management of wastewater discharges is contributing to this situation.

In submission SEM-22-003 (Madín Dam Basin), the Submitter asserts that Mexico is failing to manage wastewater being discharged into waterways, leading to degradation of water quality and levels of pollutants above legal standards. In particular, the Submitter claims that Mexico failed to uphold provisions of the Mexican Constitution, various federal laws and Official Mexican Standards focused on water, forestry, climate change, public health, and the environment. The Submitter maintains that high levels of water contamination in the dam basin are responsible for a general decline of fish and bird species in the area and a fish die-off event in August 2021.

Names and citations of the environmental laws in question:

The Submitter cites several legal instruments, including the Mexican Constitution, the General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente); the General Law of Sustainable Forestry Development (Ley General de Desarrollo Forestal Sustentable); the General Law Climate Change (Ley General de Cambio Climático) and the National Waters Law (Ley de Aguas Nacionales), among others.

Submitter(s):

Comisión de Cuenca Presa Madín