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<br />OOJ387
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<br />DRAFT-Not for distribution
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<br />"Constitutional Framework for Water Regulation in Mexico," 35 Natural Resources Joumal489
<br />(Summer 1995).
<br />
<br />173 Constitucion Polftica de [os Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Art. 27. All water in Mexico is
<br />owned by the federal government.
<br />
<br />174 Ley De Aguas Nationales, Art. 1. (Diario Oficial de la Federaci6n, December 1, 1992).
<br />
<br />175 Reglamento de la Ley De Aguas Nationales (Diaro Oficial de la Federaci6n, January 12,
<br />1994).
<br />
<br />176 Ley De Aguas Nationales, ch. 5, art. 38, cited and quoted in Mumme, supra, note 67 The
<br />Reglamento, Ibid, provide generally for ecological conservation use among the "productive
<br />activities" for which concessionary water rights may be granted. See Jo Clark, et aI., "Immediate
<br />Options for Augmenting Water Flows to the Colorado River Delta in Mexico," May 2000 report
<br />presented to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, at 31.
<br />
<br />177 Analysis in this memorandum is based on research conducted primarily upon English
<br />translations. Countervailing arguments premised on language contained in original Spanish
<br />versions of primary documents are welcome.
<br />
<br />178 Constitucion Politica de [os Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Art. 27, Ley de Aguas Nacionales,
<br />Art. 1.
<br />
<br />179 Irrigation districts organized under the Ley de Asociaciones Agricolas, including the
<br />Irrigation District for the Colorado River, organized under the Agreement on the Control and
<br />Organization of the Irrigation District for the Colorado River, December 5, 1938, and the
<br />regulations of that irrigation district, Mexico Federal Register, July 24, 1964, were presumed to
<br />obtain water rights through the mere creation of the irrigation district. These districts continue to
<br />irrigate on the basis of their pre-1992 retained irrigation rights.
<br />
<br />180 Michael J. Clinton, "Restoration of the Mexican Delta; Methods for Obtaining Water
<br />Supply," paper presented at the CLE International Law of the River Conference, June 7-8, 2001,
<br />San Diego, CA, at p. 10.
<br />
<br />181 "Concessions" are most equivalent to permits or licenses in American real property law,
<br />granting aright to "exploit, use or appropriate" ("explotaci6n, uso 0 aprovechamiento," see, Ley
<br />de Aguas N acionales, Article 48) water for a period of years, which right is personal to the
<br />grantee, nontransferable without the grantor's (Comissi6n's) consent and revocable. Ley de
<br />Aguas Nacionales, Art. 20-29.
<br />
<br />182 The Mexican National Water Commission (Commisi6n Nacional del Agua) has reaffirmed
<br />some of those rights through concessions. However, inasmuch as national legislation in 1992
<br />may have superseded and dispossessed rights created by the organic instrument of an irrigation
<br />district, and moreover inasmuch as Article 7 of the Transitory Provisions of the Ley de Aguas
<br />Nacionales declared that all water rights outstanding as of 1992 be recorded with the Commisi6n
<br />
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