High levels of arsenic and fluoride in water wells in 5 municipalities of Querétaro reported

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The water wells in the municipalities of Colón, El Marqués, Tolimán, San Juan del Río, and Querétaro present high levels of fluoride and arsenic, which are harmful for the consumption of the population, according to the journalistic work “Veneno en mi Agua” prepared by Critical Data.

According to one of the co-authors of the report, Gibrán Mena, it took more than two years to analyze data from water monitoring wells from the National Water Commission (Conagua) throughout the country, which were not public until now. and in which levels were found above the permitted international standard for arsenic and fluorine, which are two of the 10 most dangerous components contained in high levels of water for human consumption.

“We find people who are already consuming it, who have it in their body and are seeing it reflected in their urine tests, we found arsenic in bottled water in Durango and in a bottle of mineralized water in Jalisco and the State of Mexico ”, he explained.

Among the wells that were analyzed, in the state territory are in the municipality of Tolimán, the Horno de Cal well, which during 2018 exceeded the risk levels of fluoride; in San Juan del Río three wells that during 2018 and 2019 also exceeded the risk levels of fluoride; in the municipality of Querétaro there are four wells that during 2018 exceeded risk levels of arsenic and/or fluoride; In the municipality of El Marqués, the Valle de Amazcala I well during 2018 exceeded the risk levels of arsenic and/or fluoride and in the municipality of Colón, the Valle de Amazcala II well and the Vista Hermosa well exceeded the risk levels.

In this regard, the State Water Commission (CEA) assured that among these wells, it maintains competition from 7 wells, which do not present abnormalities in the levels of permissible chemical elements. 

“In the scope of the information provided in the Data Crítica.org investigation, a series of wells is listed, of which are in charge of CEA 7: San Pedro Mártir 3, Bordo Blanco, Palmares, Jurica Pueblo, Santa Rosa Jáuregui 2, Buenavista and Chichimequillas 2. However, only the latter reported the presence of both elements in 2013 and 2014. The rest of the wells mentioned in the entity, and that it is indicated that they have presented levels of arsenic and fluorides by Above the maximum permissible limits according to the current NOM-127-SSA1-1994, they are privately operated: Vidriera, Michelin, and Cardanes.

 “Based on the above, we can confirm that the wells for the extraction of drinking water operated by the CEA do not present any abnormality in the levels of permissible chemical elements, therefore, their human consumption is guaranteed”, it is mentioned in the answer of the State Water Commission.

Not a valid answer: Mena

However, the researcher Gibrán Mena, assured that this is a very short answer by the State Water Commission since it does not provide any measurement that guarantees the levels of the water that comes out of the consumers’ taps.

“It is a very limited response, indeed we have that in the municipality of Colón, El Marqués, Querétaro, San Juan del Río and Tolimán, which have these high levels, but the answer is not whether it guarantees or does not guarantee, but what are the measurements that they are doing at home, in the tap of consumers who demonstrate that they are guaranteeing the quality of the water, because the data available from the monitoring wells is that they are not below the international standard for arsenic that causes cancer “, he expressed.

The causes that the water has increased its levels of fluoride and arsenic can be due to industrial discharges and the indiscriminate exploitation of aquifers, which changes the quality of the water over time.

“That answer is nothing, you have to show the data from samples that prove that there are purification processes underway and that tell the people of Querétaro what are the measurements of the water that comes out of the consumers’ tap”, he commented.

Finally, he explained that the risks of consuming this type of water are high, it is even estimated that 12 million people are exposed to the consumption of arsenic and fluoride in Mexico, of which 10,000 people will develop cancer just from the ingestion of arsenic. , without any other factor and there is no surveillance program.

Gibrán Mena explained that in Mexico there are more than 270 water purification plants, of which only 180 have the capacity to remove fluoride and arsenic, since the rest are not in operation, and none of them are in operation. Queretaro.

“We have a map of water treatment plants. From a point of view on the map, I am not seeing water treatment plants in Querétaro that are capable of removing fluoride and arsenic. It is necessary to see how they do to guarantee, that they do not say that they guarantee but that they say how they do to guarantee and that they show the data “, he concluded.  

The report shows that there is already evidence of people affected in various parts of the country by this problem in which high levels of these metals have been detected in urine tests and cases that have been detected as the cause of some type of cancer.

Source: elqueretano.info, region22.com.mx

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