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 Editorials | Environmental | March 2007 
World Bank Study: Mixteco Region is Ecological Disaster
 El Universal
The prognosis for the country´s environment is not a good one. According to the Mexican Center for Environmental Law, within eight years the nation will be faced with a critical water shortage.
At the same time, a World Bank study suggests that the Mixteco region - located within the states of Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca - is already an "ecological disaster" zone. The study was conducted to help Mexico improve access to clean water and adapt to climate change.
It is predicted that global warming will change rainfall patterns and erosion will worsen in arid regions.
In Náhuatl, the Mixteco region is called "nation of rain." But the rain has ended, and in Mixteco country erosion has reached disastrous levels.
Rainfall is scarce and variable, the mountainsides have lost their vegetation, and enormous quantities of earth tumble down into the rivers and canyons below.
To rescue the environment, the few campesinos who haven´t emigrated from the area have been given the task of planting trees, in an attempt to heal the once-prosperous lands that used to produce ample corn, beans and squash.
The Mixteco situation - with 56% of its territory arid or semiarid, and supplies of potable water running out - is considered to be an example of what the rest of the country will face in the future.
The nation has only half the reserves of potable water it had 50 years ago, and the population has quadrupled during the same time period.
Every Mexican consumes 250 liters of water per day, on average. The National Water Commission (CNA) says that of this, 100 liters are wasted because of decaying plumbing and poorly maintainedsewage infrastructure.
Across the country, subsurface water is contaminated, and the pollution is getting worse. Government monitoring efforts show 74% of all rivers and lakes to be contaminated - with fecal waste coming from urban areas, agricultural pollution and toxic residues from industrial activity.
The CNA, in search of solutions for the looming water shortage, will soon put online Mexico´s first sea water desalinization plant, with the capacity to purify 200 liters of water per second.
However, desalinization comes with an extremely high price tag, and cannot be considered a solution for interior regions of the country experiencing desertification. |
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