A group of eight divers removed more than 800 kilos (1,760 pounds) of garbage from the bottom of the Chaka Muul cenote.
Yucatan is a state full of wonderful natural places to enjoy, however some sites need to go through a rehabilitation process since they are significantly affected by human activity. This is the case of the Cenote Chaka Muul, which has undergone a cleaning process performed by a team of divers.
With the help of the private initiative, a group of eight divers led by the underwater archaeologist, Sergio Grosjean Abimerhi, cleaned the Chaka Muul cenote, located in the Yucatecan community of Unión Libre. It should be noted that this is the 27th cenote cleaned up by the group led by Grosjean Abimerhi.
The first challenge that divers had to overcome was to dive down 21 meters into the first chamber of the cave, later they descended 44 meters deeper, in order to be able to measure the dimensions and shape of the cenote.
It should be noted that the data obtained from the expedition will be used to register the body of water in the “Atlas of the Yucatan cenotes”, that is being conformed by Grosjean Abimerhi.
The head of the Ministry of Sustainable Development of Yucatán, Sayda Melina Rodríguez and Erick Torre, Head of the Department of Karst Bodies of the state agency, were present during the cleaning operations.
Thanks to this expedition, 850 kilos of garbage were collected from the interior of the cenote, among the collected objects were: tires, bottles, bicycles, a large number of glass containers, pieces of metal, and other variety of objects.
According to locals, some of the objects collected were identified as items used for “witchcraft”.
But not everything was garbage, it was also possible to appreciate fish and crustaceans in the area, which caught Grosjean’s attention, as he stated: ‘This tells us about the species’ desire to stay alive despite the pollution’
Among the aquatic species, catfish were found, in fact an albino specimen was seen, which according to the expert is rare and very difficult to find.
The organizers of the event, thanked the Yaxcabá City Council for their help to successfully achieve the rescue and rehabilitation of this cenote.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
