Although we wanted to focus on getting the sewer situation squared away first, the presidencia (town hall) insisted that we figure out where we would get water from as our highest priority. Those of you who read La Yacata Revolution might remember that at one point, a pozo (community well) was drilled. It was later closed and a lawsuit filed as Chuchi (the guy in charge) hadn’t bothered with the proper permits.
The current administration in town seemed more open to work with us on getting the pozo legalized because there was no extra water in town that could be diverted to our little village or community or whatever La Yacata happens to be called at the moment. We needed to prove that the pozo was viable if we wanted to advance towards getting escrituras (individual property deeds).
Well, alrighty then. The first thing we did was have a video of the interior of the well done to see what condition it was. That didn’t get very far because someone (and you probably know who I suspect) had sabatoged the well with a giant boulder. We did this in November.
In February, we had enough money in the community account to hire a well-digger company to come and smash the boulder to bits. It took two days, but the pipe was cleared. The employees of the company left quite a bit to be desired in the intellect department. It was blazing hot, and they hadn’t even brought a bottle of water. So La Yacata purchased a garrafón (container) of water and ice and delivered it to keep the workers from collapsing.
There was still the matter of the pozo being “irregular” that we had to deal with. Super Prez and I headed to the ConAgua office in Celaya to ask about that. My concern was that there would be a HUGE fine levied for the clandestine well. Super Prez and I speculated how ConAgua even knew there was a well being dug in the first place if no permits were requested. My thought was that perhaps the well-digger went and reported it after Chuchi didn’t pay him for his work.
It was blazing hot when we arrived and I hadn’t been feeling well for the previous few days, so I was less than 100% on this mission. However, I knew how important it was, so I mustered on. We signed in at the security office and marched around the front because the normal entrance was sealed off for some reason. We passed a fountain with no water, and I found it ominous that the WATER COMPANY couldn’t even keep a fountain going.
We didn’t have long to wait and were ushered in to talk to a ConAgua employee. Super Prez did all the talking, I was feeling quite miserable at this point although I hadn’t made any complaints. This needed done, so by golly, it was going to get done. The employee looked over the documents we had, which included a closure notification and a lawsuit for quantities of water rights that were never paid. The lawsuit was settled with the default of Chuchi’s house. He had made the application for the water rights in his own name rather than the community, so he alone was liable for their payment. He did this with the thought of charging the colonos of La Yacata whatever he wanted for their use, making a hefty profit, only it backfired on him.
So, with the lawsuit settled, La Yacata was in the clear. The employee gave us a checklist of things to legalize the well and didn’t seem to think there would be any problems down the road. He did say that there was a water crunch in our area and that water rights were hard to come by. Good to know.
Before we left the compound, we strolled over to a separate building that housed a couple of lawyers, specialists in the realm of water rights, apparently. They checked their database and confirmed that water rights were hard to come by in our area. So they added us to the waiting list with an approximate wait time of 9-12 months if we were lucky.
When I finally got home, I was running a fever and went to bed, where I stayed for the next week. I even posted on the community Facebook page and the Whats App group that I would not be able to talk to anyone for a few days because of illness. That’s how sick I got.
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Want to read the prequel? La Yacata Revolution: How NOT to Buy a Piece of Heaven in Mexico is available on Amazon!
Surviving Mexico 