The water issue: State power, water management, and conflicts over water in the zamora municipality (Mexico) at the end of the 19th century

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of water management and conflicts over irrigated water in a Mexican municipality at the end of the 19th century. Employing the concepts of the “infrastructural power” of the State and “water systems”, it examines the repercussions of a legislation that extended federal power over the nation’s natural resources, in comparison to other regulations and social customs. By interpreting documents from the Zamora prefecture, this article analyzes the role of federal, state, and local laws regarding water use. We examine the social agreements regarding the distribution of access to water and the cleaning of ditches, which had to be put in writing by the city council. This agreement prevented and resolved conflicts, or penalized non-compliance. We show that the new federal legislation had to make its path amid municipal and local regulations that were already relevant for an area with progressive agricultural expansion. This process demanded more access to irrigated water, which generated confrontations between users. In this highly complex context of water management, this article considers the converging logistical, technical, administrative, economic, and social factors involved.