"MADERO, Mexico - On a sweltering July afternoon, two large yellow bulldozers dug into the brown soil at the bottom of a lush avocado orchard near the small town of Madero, located in central Mexico’s Michoacan state.
Drone footage recorded by Reuters captured the earth movers hollowing the ground, in what Mexican environmental group Guardian Forestal — which collaborates with the Michoacan state government — and an activist who reviewed the video described as an attempt to construct a water reservoir.
Mexican law requires an environmental impact study and permit to store and use water for resource-intensive avocado farming. Data from the national water authority Conagua showed only 42 reservoirs and wells in Madero were registered with permits. However, two activists interviewed by Reuters said there were hundreds of similar water pools in the area.
With Michoacan battling a drought, avocado producers often resort to taking water from lakes or communal basins, draining them to worrying lows, according to three local and state officials."
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