Today, as climate change accelerates droughts and resource scarcity, the challenge of producing sufficient food while preserving water and ecosystems has become one of the defining issues of our time. Mexico, with its vital agricultural regions, illustrates this reality through stressed basins, declining aquifers, and rising pollution that directly threaten water and food security. Against this backdrop, the project stands out as a strategic response designed to redefine how agribusiness manages water and energy in an era of urgent transition.
The intervention includes the implementation of drip fertigation across 100% of orchards, capable of reducing consumption by more than 40% compared to traditional methods; the modernization of industrial plants with advanced wastewater treatment and reuse systems to reach 43% reuse by 2025; and the integration of clean energy and biogas generated from effluents, directly reducing the carbon footprint. The scale of this effort is clear: each year, tens of millions of cubic meters of water are projected to be recovered, equivalent to the annual consumption of more than 150,000 households, ensuring that each liter of juice exported also symbolizes a commitment to water and climate regeneration.
In a global market where traceability and sustainability are increasingly demanded by clients, regulators, and investors, the project transforms a structural challenge into a competitive advantage. Agricultural and industrial operations are connected with the Water Positive strategy, ensuring additionality (savings and impacts that would not occur without the intervention), intentionality (aligned to solving local water scarcity), and traceability (with physical and digital monitoring under VWBA 2.0 and WQBA methodologies). In doing so, it not only guarantees the sustainable supply of citrus and derivatives for the global food and beverage industry but also redefines the role of Mexican agribusiness: from being an intensive water consumer to becoming a net generator of water benefits for its basins and communities.
This is the project’s strategic meaning: proving that it is possible to produce more and better with fewer resources, aligning business goals with the SDGs, climate resilience, and the future of rural communities in Mexico. On a planet where every drop counts, this initiative is not just another project: it is a replicable model that sets the path toward regenerative, efficient, and truly sustainable agriculture.
The Mexican citrus sector is under unprecedented pressure: aquifer overexploitation, competition with urban and industrial uses, and the increasing frequency of droughts have placed food production at the heart of the water crisis. Added to this is the vulnerability of basins such as Pánuco and Papaloapan, which combine high agricultural demand with diffuse contamination from fertilizers and industrial discharges. The current situation threatens both the economic viability of the sector and the health of rural communities that depend on these water sources.
In this scenario, the initiative emerges as a major technical and strategic opportunity. Between 2025 and 2027, 50% of irrigation systems will be modernized and automated, ensuring efficient water use and reducing losses. In industrial plants, each cubic meter of water treated and reused represents not only direct savings of fresh water but also relief for receiving bodies and reduced operating costs. This translates into an estimated 40% reduction in industrial water consumption, with volumes recovered equivalent to the annual supply of tens of thousands of people.
The benefits are immediate and tangible: less pressure on critical aquifers, reduced pollutants discharged into rivers and soils, biogas production replacing fossil fuels, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Reputationally, agribusiness is positioned as a leader of a new circular and resilient model, capable of meeting ESG demands from investors and consumers who demand sustainable products. Strategically, this experience opens the door to replicating the model in other citrus regions of the country and in agri-food chains facing similar challenges.
The opportunity is clear: in a context where water will be the limiting factor for agricultural growth, the companies that succeed in making efficiency, reuse, and water regeneration central to their business models will ensure permanence and leadership. This project demonstrates that it is not just about surviving change but about leading it, setting a replicable path for the agriculture of the future.
The proposed solution integrates high-efficiency technologies and circular processes designed to address water and environmental risks in Mexican citrus regions. In agriculture, drip fertigation ensures precise use of water and nutrients, eliminating losses and reducing contaminant percolation into aquifers. In industry, advanced effluent treatment systems using activated carbon and ozone regenerate high-quality water, suitable for reuse in irrigation or safe discharge into receiving bodies. This is complemented by anaerobic digestion to harness the organic load of wastewater, generating biogas for boilers and dryers, replacing fossil fuels.
The technical justification focuses on three pillars: water efficiency (m³ saved and reused), quality improvement (reduction of BOD, TSS, and nutrients), and energy resilience (biogas as a renewable source). These technologies were selected based on operational viability, replicability, alignment with national and international standards, and their ability to generate measurable benefits under the VWBA principles of additionality, traceability, and intentionality.
The benefits are quantifiable: over 40% water savings in agriculture, 40% reduction in industrial water consumption, up to 43% reuse, thousands of tons of CO₂ avoided, and substantial improvement in discharge quality. Socially, the initiative contributes to food and health security, reduces public health risks associated with contaminated water, and strengthens the social license to operate. Economically, it reduces operating costs, improves competitiveness in international markets, and enables sustainability certifications.
Identified risks include hydrological variability, potential technological failures, or social resistance to change. To mitigate these, redundant systems, real-time IoT monitoring, external audits, and contingency plans ensure operational continuity. Additionally, shared governance with communities and local authorities reinforces social acceptance and long-term benefits. Its replicable nature opens opportunities to scale the solution to other agricultural basins in Mexico and Latin America, consolidating a comprehensive model of circular and resilient agribusiness.
The project will be implemented under a comprehensive phased scheme designed not only to deliver technical clarity and control but also to embed innovation and resilience at every stage. The first phase will establish a robust baseline diagnosis, mapping flows, water quality, irrigation efficiency, and emissions through IoT sensors, laboratory analyses, and satellite monitoring. These data points will create a transparent starting framework and generate initial KPIs against which impacts will be rigorously evaluated.
The second phase will involve detailed engineering and careful technology selection, balancing efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. It will encompass modernization of fertigation systems with automated controls, upgrades of treatment plants using activated carbon and ozone to secure high-quality reuse, and the integration of anaerobic digestion modules to capture biogas as a renewable energy source. In the third phase (2025–2027), installation and commissioning will unfold, modernizing at least half of irrigation systems and embedding circular water use within industrial plants. Each system will operate under SCADA supervision with digital traceability to track, in real time, water volumes saved or regenerated, energy consumption, and water quality indicators.
Once operational, the validation phase will compare baseline and project scenarios through external audits and independent verifiers under VWBA and WQBA methodologies, ensuring international credibility. Continuous operation will be reinforced by preventive and corrective maintenance protocols, joint governance with water authorities and communities, and contingency plans to address climate variability and hydrological shocks. Real-time monitoring will provide early warnings for deviations, generate performance dashboards, and feed mechanisms of continuous improvement.
This phased and adaptive implementation ensures not only operational rigor and third-party validation but also the permanence of benefits across water savings, reuse, energy efficiency, and water quality improvement. It anchors the initiative firmly within the principles of additionality, intentionality, and traceability defined by the Water Positive strategy, while creating a scalable blueprint for future replication.
The project represents an integrated intervention that combines agricultural efficiency, industrial water regeneration, and clean energy generation. Technically, it is based on drip fertigation in orchards, advanced treatment systems with activated carbon and ozone in processing plants, and anaerobic digestion to produce biogas from effluents. With this, every cubic meter of water is maximized, reducing consumption, closing cycles, and lowering emissions.
The relevance of this solution lies in its ability to reverse the linear logic of Mexican agribusiness, transforming water management into a circular and resilient model. Compared to the baseline scenario—characterized by high consumption, pollutant discharges, and fossil fuel dependence—the change is substantial: over 40% water savings, up to 43% industrial reuse, thousands of tons of CO₂ avoided, and measurable improvements in discharged water quality.
Concrete results include millions of cubic meters of water saved or regenerated annually, significant reductions of pollutants such as BOD, TSS, and nutrients, and less pressure on critical aquifers. Additionally, environmental benefits such as reduced soil erosion and biodiversity conservation are achieved, along with social benefits in public health and food security. Economically, lower operating costs and improved export competitiveness consolidate the project’s strategic value.
In terms of the Water Positive strategy, this project exemplifies the principles of additionality, intentionality, and traceability defined by VWBA 2.0 and WQBA, ensuring that each benefit is verifiable and replicable. It directly contributes to the roadmap toward a regenerative agroindustrial model, aligned with the SDGs and international frameworks such as Science Based Targets for Water and the CEO Water Mandate.
Its replicability potential is high: it can be implemented in other citrus and agroindustrial basins in Mexico and Latin America, provided favorable technical, regulatory, and social conditions exist. With public-private and technological partnerships, this model can be rapidly scaled and help close global water and climate gaps.
In conclusion, agribusiness is demonstrating that it can not only adapt to a context of water and climate crisis but also lead the transition toward a circular water economy. This project is tangible proof that every drop can be transformed into opportunity, every effluent into a resource, and every action into a legacy for the communities and basins that sustain life and production in Mexico.
