The mangroves and a pre -Hispanic salinera that are part of the municipality of Dzemul, northeast of the Mexican State of Yucatan, are in danger due to the irregular placement of drinking water pipe, warned peasants of the coastal region.
“The mayor of Dzemul, José Wilberto Flota Aké, began a 15 -kilometer project to bring drinking water to Telchac Puerto, but crosses natural areas that endanger the flora and fauna of the coastal zone,” Juventino Náhuat Pat, one of the 65 members of the Xtampu salinera that participated in a demonstration against the municipal plan told Efe.
Accompanied by José Armando Pat Canul and other partners who prevented municipal workers from placing PVC tubes in the rings of the mangroves and salt ponds, he said they will not allow the mangroves to be destroyed, “nor our life support that are the charcas Salineras.”
“We will not allow them to continue with that irregular work, because it does not have environmental impact permits,” he said.
Other protesters who declined to identify themselves for fear of reprisals ask for support from the environmental authorities of Yucatan, to stop the project that would cause an echocide.
They recalled that in 2023, the environmental authorities closed for the first time the project to bring drinking water to Telchac Puerto due to the damage that would cause the environment and “in May 2024, the same thing happened.”
“As the mayor was reelected for a second period, this 2025 insists on bringing drinking water to Telchac Puerto, also causing affectations to the people of Dzemul, because two or three times a week we lack the vital liquid,” said Pat Canul.
Although he walked with support from a cane, he showed that ras from the mangroves and the saline ran out to put PVC pipes and still side there is construction material.
“You have to avoid this project that will not benefit the people of Dzemul, but it will cause damage to the mangroves and saline ponds that are pre -Hispanic, they exist since time immemorial, when our Mayan grandparents exchanged salt for jade and other items,” he said.
Fourth place in mangroves extension
For his part, Jorge Alfredo Herrera Silveira, research professor at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies at the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav) Mérida, explained that mangroves are essential to maintain tropical and subtropical coastal ecosystems.
“They must be in good condition not only to continue maintaining important environmental services for the community but to protect their assets and their lives, because they face storms and cyclones,” he said.
“Restoring and conserving mangrove ecosystems is an international issue and Mexico should be at the forefront, because it is the fourth place in mangrove extension in the world, after Indonesia, Australia and Brazil,” he said.
The specialist said that the Yucatan Peninsula has 60% of the mangroves of all of Mexico “and its care is transcendental.”
On the problem that through the peasants of Dzemul, he commented that “it is necessary to make a rapid diagnosis to suggest alternatives to bring drinking water to the houses of the port without damaging mangroves and salinera.”
“Communities need to live, need resources and services, but actions that do not harm ecosystems, or productive activities,”
Any structure that passes through the mangrove has to be of the type called “high”, a pipe “cannot be at the ground of the ground, because it would impact the hydrology of the mangrove.”
“If the pipe puts it underneath, then it would be worse, because they will have to open a ditch and that would mean an impact on water, soil and mangrove,” he said.
Environmental tax payment
The Cinvestav researcher proposes the payment of an environmental tax for the owners of the summer houses that would receive the drinking water service, “because the liquid will go through an extremely fragile and important ecosystems such as mangroves.”
He considered that all urban or industrial infrastructure works must have an economic position, “because we affect ecosystems and are not paid for that.”
With EFE information.
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