Wedoany.com Report-Mar 20, Mexico will invest $6.1bn on 17 water projects in regions hit by drought and flooding over the next six years.

One of the programme’s flagship projects will be the rehabilitation of the Tula River, heavily contaminated by lead, cadmium and arsenic

The country is increasingly prone to drought partly as a result of climate change and partly through rapid urbanisation, which are draining aquifers.

The work will help 36 million people, said Efraín Morales López, director general of Conagua, which manages Mexico’s water infrastructure.

He said $750m would be spent in the coming year, and would fund site preparation for a desalination plant, aqueducts and flood protection.

The plant will be built in Rosarito, Baja California, with a six-year investment of around $600m. It will provide water to the Tijuana area, benefiting 6 million residents. Work will begin in November.

The planned Solís-León aqueduct will bring water to 1.8 million inhabitants of the Bajío area in Guanajuato, central Mexico.

It’s costed at $750m, half of which will come from state coffers and the rest from federal funds. Construction starts in September.

Around Mexico City, the plan is to improve supply for around 22 million people by cleaning the Tula river.

This $2.5bn scheme also starts in September.

Other notable schemes are the $450m Milpillas Dam in Zacatecas, and the $200m Tunal II Dam in Durango, both in the centre of the country. These will be put out to tender in the summer and construction will begin before the autumn.

A number of flood protection schemes will also be carried out. For example, a $120m project will be carried out in Tabasco, with works to begin in May.