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I I I I I 002044 VI. PURCHASING AND TRANSFERRING WATER RIGHTS IN MEXICO The following section discusses the ownership and transfer of water rights in District 014. It concludes that, subject to additional due diligence in connection with certain targeted parcels, property with water rights can be purchased and the water rights transferred for ecological purposes. Pending regulations that would clarify and strengthen this transfer process are expected to be adopted by the time recommendations in this report are implemented. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Substantially all of the water available in District 014 is under the jurisdiction of CNA and defined as national waters.'6 The Mexican government has been allocating rights for the use of national waters in District 014 since 1938. Under existing laws. a private party may acquire and transfer the right to use national waters. However. since a new law was enacted in 1992. there have been two parallel water right management systems. The rights to use national waters in District 014 can be held by private parties under either (1) concession tides or (2) irrigation rights C'derechos de riego''). Both types of water rights are managed by the district and CNA charges user fees for any water distributed in the district, in accordance with a fee schedule set by the Federal Law of Fees. The rules for transferring water rights in District 014 vary depending on whether a water right is held as an irrigation right or under a concession tide and the co-existence of both systems complicates but actually creates an integrated mechanism that allows the purchase of water rights in District 014. Under the older Irrigation Rights System created in 1938.17 the federal government granted irrigation rights to farmers in District 014. These irrigation rights are linked to land and allocated based on the size of a particular parcel, according. to ~teria established by CNA. Most parcels receive the water required to irrigate a twenty-hectare parcel As discussed below, this system remains in place today but its management rules are in flux. The second water right management system currendy in place in District 014 was created in 1992. with the enactment of the National Water Law C'NWL''). Under this law, a so-called Concession System was created to allocate national waters to private parties.18 The NWL promulgates rules under which water concessions are granted and transferred Although the new Concession System recognizes the existence of irrigation districts. it does not clearly define the way in which irrigation rights will be managed under a concession system. Currendy. a concession tide is the only way a private party can acquire a newly issued right to use national waters. 19 A. Ownership and Transfer of Irrigation Rights CNA is in the process of bringing the older Irrigation Rights System into conformity with the new concession system in Irrigation District 014. Most of the water rights in this area continue to be held as irrigation rights and not concession tides. As such, this report focuses primarily on the steps required to transfer Irrigation Rights from irrigation to ecological purposes. It concludes that the irrigation right should first be converted to a concession and then transferred. Irrigation rights are registered in the Public Registry of Water Rights C'REPDA'') created by the NWL.20 Although the REPDA only functions as a registry, the NWL recognizes the registration of water rights in the REPDA as a means of proving the existence and status of such rights. 21 For 29