Humberto Reyes Montiel, the chemical engineer, expressed that Yucatán needs greater collaboration from the authorities and society to stop the water contamination.
In a conversation with the media, he said that water pollution is affecting the health of Yucatecans.
Reyes Montiel, an activist from the civil association Ciudadanos Hartos, has denounced for several years that the shallow water table in Mérida is fecalized.
The creator of the project known as The Rotten Water of Mérida stated again that water contamination in Yucatán has had a greater scope due to the population growth that has occurred in recent years.
The chemical engineer pointed out that another influencing factor is that the infrastructure in Yucatán is not the proper one. Due to pollution, he said, they extract water from greater depths, causing damage to the environment.
According to the expert, the Yucatán Drinking Water and Sewerage Board (Japay) extracts water 48 meters deep. They do not extract it higher because they know water conditions are unhealthy. This same contamination promotes health damage and potentially fatal diseases.
He then highlighted that in Yucatán, there is a misconception that the water is good because we do not see it. Other states have rivers on the surface, and pollution is evident, unlike Yucatán.
Reyes Montiel assured that another problem in Mérida is the pollution produced by garbage leachate and other heavy metals such as lead and mercury from objects used in the city leach into the ground.
He also announced that although there are wastewater treatment plants in Mérida, they are not functional. He is concerned that this situation will contribute to aggravating the problem.
The activist asks the authorities to do something since the current infrastructure does not promote correct management of the waste that reaches the water table.
To make a change, he expressed that these issues can no longer go unnoticed. We require that the authorities take timely actions, but society must raise awareness and take action.
Likewise, he is working to raise awareness among new generations, such as his pupil Heyder Solís Noriega, who will take the lead on this issue. “I am concerned about the situation. Our interest is to focus on young people who, in the end, are the ones who will bear this.”
TYT Newsroom
