That is what has been heard since December of last year, when the Movement in Defense of Water, Territory and Life was created, born out of a call to an academic event in the Industrial Engineering Auditorium at the University of Sonora.

The diagnosis from the academics was precise: if the project of the three dams were to go ahead, there would be great ecological devastation and it would not, in essence, solve the problem of water supply for the city of Hermosillo, since 50% of the drinking water distributed through the hydraulic network is wasted.

They presented academic studies on the massive devastation caused downstream of the El Molinito dam, where thousands of hectares ceased to be cultivated and today not a single hectare produces crops. Other academic work showed us the great inefficiency of the water utility, Agua de Hermosillo, which has failed to repair an obsolete hydraulic network where countless leaks waste that same 50% of water. We were also given academic information about the lack of remediation of the contamination generated in the Río Sonora by the 2014 toxic spill from the Buenavista del Cobre mine.

In the face of this scenario, we decided to organize and go to the authorities to demand transparency on the issue of the dams and to insist that information flow, so that society and government could work together on the best solution to the problem: the supply of drinking water for the city of Hermosillo.

We held a demonstration in the State Congress, which led to a meeting with its president and with the presidents of the commissions related to the matter. We met with the governor and approached the president of the Republic — all in the first quarter of this year. None of the authorities has provided us with any technical document validating the feasibility of the three dams, despite the fact that they have announced that 7.5 billion pesos have already been allocated to the project. The governor himself declared on Saturday, Sept. 6 of this year, that he does not know of any such technical document — perhaps because it does not exist.

In all the meetings we have held with various Río Sonora communities — Molino de Camou, San Bartolo, San Miguel de Horcasitas, Ures (where we attended several ejido assemblies), Huépac, Banámichi and Sinoquipe — the stance of the residents has been clear and forceful: a resounding NO to the three dams. The rejection has been expressed through three Caravans: the first from Tronconal to Hermosillo, which had very strong participation; the second from Ures to Puerta del Sol, where practically the entire municipality became involved and shouted NO TO THE DAMS; and finally, a Caravan that sought to integrate all the struggles, from Bacoachi to Hermosillo.

From the government’s side, they appear not to recognize reality and have attempted, through different mechanisms, to divide the movement. This only strengthens the theory that the government’s true objective is to favor mining activity over the water supply for the state capital. If this is the case, we are on the verge of a major social conflict provoked by the government itself in attempting to impose a project that NOBODY asked for.

Perhaps in electoral terms, the 25,000 people who inhabit the river communities are insignificant. But in humanist and environmental terms, it reflects very badly on the 4T [the Fourth Transformation] to waste this crucial moment — the president’s visit after her first State of the Union address — to announce that the construction of these DAMS, which the Wise People do not want, will not go forward. To support the mining companies instead — companies that have not even remedied the enormous contamination from 2014 — would be an INSULT.

On September 6, during her first visit to Hermosillo as president after delivering her first state of the nation address, Claudia Sheinbaum made no mention of the dams. It’s not too late for her to demonstrate the courage of her convictions and announce the cancellation of a project that threatens to destroy the future of the Sonora River.

---

---