Treatment plant in Cielo Alto is closed
After causing damage to the environment, specifically to the water table, the Secretariat for Sustainable Development (SDS) closed a treatment plant located in the Cielo Alto subdivision, and imposed a fine of one million pesos, reported the head of the agency Sayda Rodríguez Gómez, who said she did not know how many of these teams operate in this situation.
In case the lack of water was a problem in the aforementioned subdivision, the sewage treatment was added to the irregularities, a situation that was confirmed during an inspection visit by the state agency, which generated a temporary closure, in order to stop the damage it was causing to the environment.
“The treatment plant was not operating well.” We asked him to stop the operation and the incoming water is sent to another station. There are trucks that are carrying the water, ”the official explained.
For this irregularity, the company will have to repair the damage and pay a penalty of one million pesos.
“In this inspection visit we generated a closure to be able to stop what was causing the impact and it was ordered that remediation actions be generated for the site, such as cleaning to guarantee the natural recovery of the area,” explained Rodríguez Gómez.
The head of the agency said that this problem started due to a bad operation of the plant, possibly caused by a defective pump, lack of capacity, it was not finished, various engineering or technical issues that led to the damage.
When questioning how many treatment plants exist in the city and which ones are working correctly, the official said she did not know the issue, since it corresponds to the Board of Drinking Water and Sewerage of Yucatán (Japay).
However, according to information provided by Ciudadanos Hartos Civil Association (CHAC), there are 16 plants in Mérida, which barely treat 1.6% of the waste generated daily.
The group Ciudadanos Hartos, A.C, affirmed that the water of Mérida is at serious risk, for which they are asking the establishment for a sanitation project for the coming years.
The members of this group, José Luis Rivera and Humberto Reyes said that the level of risk, on a scale of one to 10 reaches eight, so they affirmed that it is important that the current state, federal and municipal governments give step to establishing a strategy.
Despite the fact that the Yucatán Potable Water and Sewerage Board (Japay) has affirmed that the city’s water is in optimal condition and no feces have been found, as stated by said group, the complainants insisted that the situation requires immediate attention, through a water sanitation project.
“For 14 years it has been raised by UADY specialists that it is necessary to carry out sanitation strategies to free the water that is discharged from the subsoil from contamination, although until now there is no indication of addressing the matter,” said Humberto Kings.
“We estimate that digestive problems and other types of intestinal and carcinogenic conditions could have an increase, precisely because of the contamination of the water,” he said.
He said that although it is difficult to create a drainage system, there are other alternatives such as the one proposed for the Homún pig farm, which will have a wastewater treatment system, which can be applied to the city and make other farms apply this alternative.
The complainants also fought for the authorities to listen to their assertions, as they indicate that they will continue making the necessary indications until the problem is addressed.
Mérida City Council refutes statements by Ciudadanos Hartos AC
After the association Ciudadanos Hartos made strong indications regarding the quality of water in the Yucatecan capital, the City of Mérida, through a statement to the media, pointed out the following:
- There is no municipal dump, the solid waste generated in the Mérida municipality is finally disposed of in a Sanitary Landfill operated by the company Veolia Residuos Norte SA DE CV. (Formerly SETASA) since 1997. The Mérida sanitary landfill is considered the best in the country and one of the 10 best in Latin America for proper management of Solid Waste according to NOM083-SEMARNAT-2003, it also has the certification ISO14000 IN ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY and currently has just received the environmental quality certification by PROFEPA.
- The sanitary landfill was built in stages, it was divided into 14 waste reception cells. Each cell of the sanitary landfill that is built before starting with the discharge of solid waste has, in its entire area, a double layer of Geomembrane (high-density polyethylene) of 1 mm and 1.5 mm thick welded by means of thermodiffusion, which prevents any leachate runoff to the water table. The geomembrane sits on compacted sandy silt and on top of it is geotextile and river gravel, which prevents debris from directly touching the geomembrane.
- The leachate control consists in the capture of the same from the sumps that each cell of the sanitary landfill has, these leachates captured in each sump are pumped towards the 9 leachate lagoons that the sanitary landfill has for evaporation and recirculation in cells mentioned above.
- The gases generated by the solid waste are controlled through biogas vent wells. It is worth mentioning that 45 biogas wells are currently being connected to the Biogas collection and burning system installed in the sanitary landfill since 2010, which operates under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Guidelines of the Kyoto treaty, reducing this air pollution.
Therefore, it can be said that there is no negligence in the treatment of Urban Solid Waste generated in the municipality of Mérida, on the contrary, the solid waste treatment system is ranked among the best and most advanced systems in the country, considering that they are treated in an appropriate way and with the technology and quality required according to the Official Mexican Standards.
Reyes Montiel indicated that the response that Conagua and Semarnat gave in this regard was “laughable”, since they simply cited standards and articles without explaining what they have done to prevent the cancer of water in Mérida, since, as reported, studies by Uady scientists indicate that 40 meters from the aquifer there are particles of organochlorines that are the ones that cause different cancers.
“What use is so much stupidity of numbers?”, Said Humberto Reyes, speaking of the job they received from Semarnat and Conagua.
“What we want is for them to tell us if they are working to prevent banned pesticides from being used in the State,” he commented during the press conference.
Then he asked citizens to put their finger on the line, and support and demand that the authorities do their work on the issue.
“To those who owe a good answer is not to ‘Humberto’, it is to society,” said Reyes Montiel.
Source: gruporivas.com.mx, yucatan.com.mx, yucatanalamano.com, agua.org.mx
