Dispossession and Bottling after the Revolution

The incursion of capital into Mexico during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to the renovation of bathing facilities (after almost a century of neglect), the creation of mineral-water bottling plants, and the privatization of mineral and hot springs. In Tehuacán, this process was enabled by public health regulations that imposed a homogeneous standard of biological quality that enabled large bottlers to expand the production of heterogeneous bottled mineral waters and soft drinks. In Topo Chico, the hydrological science and the reform of the national water law facilitated the transfer of the mineral springs from the peasants, who for centuries relied on them for agricultural and domestic uses, to industrial bottlers, including the Coca-Cola Company.