Sierra de la Laguna: The "Hydraulic Heart" of BCS is Untouchable for Tourism, Conagua Warns

The National Water Commission (Conagua) has been blunt: preserving the Sierra de la Laguna is a matter of survival for Baja California Sur. Julio César Villarreal Trasviña, local director of the agency, pointed out that this area has the highest rainfall in the state, functioning as a giant natural sponge that feeds the aquifers of La Paz and, critically, those of Los Cabos. Given the recent controversy over projects in the area, the federal stance is clear: the absolute priority is human consumption.

Current legislation, strengthened by the December 2025 reform to the National Water Law, closes the doors to those who intend to convert water concessions into commercial assets. As the official explained, the figures of transmission of concessions and changes of use no longer exist. This means that if someone has water for agriculture, they cannot sell it or transform it for tourism use. Furthermore, in the Sierra de la Laguna, access to groundwater is extremely complex, making any large-scale development that is not for conservation technically and legally unfeasible.

Villarreal Trasviña emphasized the "precedence of use," a hierarchical order where the human right to water stands above any commercial or service interest. In this May 2026, the Sierra de la Laguna remains a sanctuary protected not only by environmental decrees but by a hydraulic legal structure that understands that without the water captured at its peaks, economic development and life itself in the south of the state would be at imminent risk.