The Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery has titles for the extraction of water equivalent to 47% of the capacity of the Cierro Prieto dam , whose satellite image provided by NASA went viral due to the state of drought in which it is located.
This dam is essential for the supply of drinking water in the metropolitan area of Monterrey , in Nuevo León , and this year it has reached record low levels, due to the drought in the region.
The brewing industry ; however, it is one of the ones that consumes the most water and it is estimated that for every liter of beer produced, 2.6 liters of drinking water are used. In Monterrey, the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery has concessions for 6.98 million cubic meters per year, being the company with the second largest concession volume in this city, according to data from the Public Registry of Water Rights.
But if all the water extraction titles that have been granted to the brewery by the National Water Commission, from 1994 to date, throughout the national territory, are taken into account, the figure skyrockets.
In total, it has at least 27 titles for the extraction of 143.2 million cubic meters of water per year, equivalent to 47% of the total capacity of the Cierro Prieto dam, according to said public registry.
The largest concession was granted by the Water Administration Department of the Central Gulf Basin Organization, in 1996, with the title 10VER102534/28IADA17. And this concession is valid to extract 120.13 million cubic meters per year, until May 21, 2046.
This week, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced that the National Water Commission (Conagua) will no longer deliver concessions or permits for the exploitation of water in the north of the country. This is due to the water crisis in this region.
The Cerro Prieto dam reached 0.5% of its capacity in July 2022. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently showed a satellite image that shows how, since 2015, the dam has been drying up until it is almost totally empty.
Represents 0.24% of all the water granted in the country
At the Monterrey plant, Heineken’s oldest in Mexico, the company produces the Tecate, Tecate Light, XX Ámbar, and Indio brands, among others. Here, Heineken Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma produces 3 million liters of beer.
The company indicated that it uses 2.3 liters of water per liter of beer, while the company’s average measurement is 2.5 liters of water per liter of beer.
In recent days, Heineken announced that it would donate 20% of the water it has under concession for domestic use in Nuevo León. In addition, the company states that it uses “less than 1% of the total water demand required by the Monterrey metropolitan area.”
In Mexico, 59,115 cubic meters of water have been concessioned, according to the study, published in the journal Argumentos de la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.
If this data is taken into account, the available water in Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma would represent 0.24% of this total.
In the article written by researchers Wilfrido A. Gómez-Arias and Andrea Moctezuma, it is estimated that 1.1% of drinking water users in the country, and who have a concession for its exploitation, have 22.3% in their possession. of the liquid, almost a fifth.
This while between 12 and 15 million inhabitants in the country lack access to drinking water , according to the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
