quo vadis?

 

You know my friend the laguna is dying.


So, why is it happening and what can be done?


This is where the local rumor mill kicks into high gear.  I cannot verify the accuracy of any of the purported causes.  I only report what I hear.

• Lax local regulations are high on everyone's list.  As an example, Pemex is building a new gas station (What else would they build?  A space shuttle tracking station?) on fill that is currently being dumped onto the wetlands of the laguna.  The allegation is that it violates land use regulations -- even though the local authority approved the permit.  The irony is that a recently disused Pemex station sits no more than 200 meters down the highway from the new building site.
• Sewage discharges directly from homes into the laguna -- causing the nitrogen level to increase and the hyacinths to flourish.
• Nitrogen from upstream farms are causing the same result.
• Local authorities attempted to cut the water hyacinths in 2008.  But they failed to gather up the chopped pieces.  Each piece resulted in a new hyacinth plant.  Thus, the mess we see today.

Without proper studies, no one knows exactly what the source of the problem is.  I suspect, though, that the rumor mill has uncovered most of them.  All of the speculation appears to be based on some semblance of reason.


Those of us who have nursed on the milk of NOB politics will raise a sagely eyebrow and pronounce: "We must deal with the root causes, not just the symptoms."


But, there are times, like this, where the symptoms may actually be the disease.  Getting those hyacinths out of the way would certainly be a good start.  Then someone could deal with root causes.


That means getting someone with authority concerned enough to remove most of the hyacinths.


And there is the rub.  "Someone" who? 


The local government has a very mixed record on issues concerning the laguna.  The Pemex project is a good example.  But a new administration just came to power in January.  Perhaps, there will be some interest there.


The laguna is within the federal control zone.  And it would have the authority to do something about the hyacinths.  But ours would be only one project in a country with a severe water problem.


Faced with a similar situation in Salem, my neighbors would band together and do something.  Our tradition is that personal responsibility trumps government inaction.


I was afraid that option was not available here.  The Iberian-Catholic tradition imposed over the top of Mexico's native culture is that power descends down, not the other way round.


But my neighbors have surprised me.  A local committee formed -- the same group that sponsored Mexico Day -- to save the  laguna.  The people of Melaque decided they could -- and must -- show their civic concern.  From the grass roots up.


I don't think anyone has a good idea how this will all end.  But some solution will present itself.  Perhaps, a private-public partnership.


But it has to happen soon.