8th Regional Event of the Communities requesting assistance with water

Where: UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) Juriquilla
When: 3.5.11
Who: Representatives of the Consejo Cata (CdP, President), Abraham & Estela (Tierra Blanca), Roberto (Presita de Santa Rosa/secretary), Saul, Chela, Jesus & Parents of Jesus – (Cedesa), Laura Rotary, Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega Guerrero, & Ramon Aguila – UNAM,

Purpose of the meeting: For Dr Ortega to inform the communities regarding the severity of wáter issues in the región, & to plan the study to attempt to determine the cause of high mortality rate in Tierra Blanca.

Saul, Cata, Abraham, Estela & Roberto met at Bodega Aurerra & travelled with Laura to Juriquilla, Jesus, Chela & Jesus’s parents travelled separately from Cedesa.

Dr Ortega began the discussion with a powerpoint & history of the work he & his colleagues have been carrying out in this región. In 1998 the began work in the área of ground wáter studies. Many organisations collaborated on this study. Once they began work they realised that the one aquifer serviced the 7 municipalities, previously it was thought each área had it’s own.

They bought together the municipalities to fund the study.

Historically there were other lakes in the área talked about by the indigenous peoples but they are not here now, there were also 1000’s of springs, these too have dried up.

There are 2500 wells in the área covered by this aquifer. 127 of them were tested for organic matter & 10 elements. There are many more elements that should be being tested for.

In SMA they are currently only testing for fluoride (not even arsenic, ironically Cedesa just did 2 tests for private individuals in the área beside the DH road, & in both locations the levels were higher than the safe recommended level).

The WHO safe max. Level for arsenic is 0.01 – the Mexican Govt. Safe max. Level is 2.5x higher at .025.

Fluoride is a nasty contaminant, it’s symptoms include, high depression, complications with diabetes, erectile disfunction, bone pain, brain disfunction, damaged teeth, accumulation in major organs, .

When the diabetes complications was mentioned, Cata said in the last 3 yrs 4 or 5 kids of 6-7 yrs old have died from diabetes in Cruz del Palmar. There could be a connection with the high fluoride levels there.

There is no information being publically provided currently about the fluoride situation in this región. We are doing our best to inform the communities with whom we’re working, as this is a drastic problema & they should avoid drinking the wáter. Chlorine does not remove fluoride

1.5mg/l is reported as the máximum safe level but it is in fact still toxic at this level.
There are different methods of testing the fluoride levels, the dipstick method (used by Ecosciences) is not the most precise method.

There are more than 70 elements, & we are just testing for fluoride.
Another toxic contaminant is silica – Silicosis is being investigated as a possible cause of the health issues in Tierra Blanca, as is Radon.

Dr Ortega then proposed 2 sets of studies to be done, 1 specifically in Tierra Blanca & the other in the región 500 metres around Tierra Blanca.

An “Encuentro por el Agua” is planned 20/8/11 10am-5pm as a follow up to the diplomado for agua done in 2008/09.

It will be held at the Biblioteca at CAC (Centro Academico Culturo). It will also be open likely to people from the Consejo who have not attended the diplomado but are interested in the topic of Water.