Short answer. Both. Article 506 of the Civil Code provides two independent ways the right to use public waters is extinguished: the lapse of the concession, and non-use for five years. Either one ends the right, so an expired concession and five years of non-use are each separately sufficient to terminate it.
What the law says
The right to make use of public waters is extinguished by the lapse of the concession and by non-user for five years.
Civil Code, Article 506 — Loss Of Right To Public Waters. Read the full provision →
Two ways the right to use public water is lost
Article 506 of the Civil Code provides a concise rule: The right to make use of public waters is extinguished by the lapse of the concession and by non-user for five years. The article identifies two independent grounds for extinction of the right. The first is the lapse of the concession — the administrative grant authorizing your use of the public water expires on its own terms. The second is non-user for five years — if you simply stop using the water for five consecutive years, the right is extinguished regardless of whether the concession has formally expired. Both grounds operate independently.
Lapse of the concession
A concession to use public water is a time-limited grant from the government. When the period specified in the concession expires, the authorization lapses and the right to make use of the water ends. If you want to continue using the water after the concession lapses, you would need to seek a renewal or a new concession. The lapse of the concession is straightforward — it is tied to the terms of the grant itself and does not require any additional act. The moment the concession's validity period ends, so does the right it granted.
Non-use for five years
The second ground operates even while a concession is still formally valid: if you stop making use of the public water for five continuous years, the right is extinguished by non-user. This reflects the principle that public resources are granted for use, not merely for possession of a paper right. An inactive concessionaire who holds a water use right but makes no use of it for five years loses that right automatically by operation of law. The five-year period of non-use is the trigger; once it elapses, the right is gone without any formal cancellation being required.
Practical implications
In your situation, two things may have happened at once: your concession has lapsed on its own terms, and if you stopped using the water at the same time — or any five-year span before or after the lapse — the right may also be extinguished on the non-user ground. The effect is the same under either ground: the right to make use of the public water no longer exists. To resume using the water lawfully, you would need to obtain a new authorization through whatever process applies to public water use concessions. The prior right, once extinguished, does not automatically revive by the act of applying — a new right must be granted.