|
|
|
|
| |
Pollution in Acapulco
Pollution and Mexico have
become synonymous in the media in recent decades so I though that I would make
this little page to try to objectively discuss the issue because I'm all about
keeping Acapulco as pollution free as possible, but also dispelling some of the
rumors out there.
Most of the stories one hears about pollution in Mexico
are really about one of the world's air pollution capitals - Mexico City. It's
been claimed that breathing the air in Mexico city is the equivalent of smoking
two packs of cigarettes a day, and I'm not talking about Virginia Slims either,
I'm talking about two packs of filterless Winstons over here.
Having
spent many months in Mexico City, the pollution is bad and there seems no good
way of addressing it. Pandora's Box has been open for decades. In the winter
months when differing air pressures conspire to prevent the air pollution from
escaping the ring of mountains that surround the city, I get headaches, my
sinuses hurt and I feel dizzy sometimes when I'm there. A few efforts have been
made such as not allowing cars whose license plate ends in a certain number
circulate on given days (which only seemed to motivate people to buy a second
car to evade the spirit of the rule) and even kooky proposals have been
considered such as drilling holes in the mountains and installing huge fans to
blow the pollution out of the city into the upper atmosphere. All I have to say
is I'd not like the be the Mexico City air pollution Czar as it seems like an
impossible job given the cities topography, economy, and massively massive size.
But that's Mexico City, this is Acapulco - a city, for all practical purposes, a
world away.
Government officials at all levels realized that the
pollution issue was hurting the city as the 1970s turned into the more
environmentally conscious 1980s and 1990s, Mexican authorities finally realized
they had a big problem on their hands as word was spreading that the beaches
around the country were contaminated by such things as human waste, garbage, and
industrial pollution such as fertilizers and pesticides. Mass efforts were
undertaken beginning in the 1990s around Mexico to address the issue,
particularly in tourism zones oh so important to the Mexican economy.
The
Secretaría de
Marina has been at the forefront of beach clean-up efforts and has overseen
the isolation and removal of some 58 million tons of solid waste and 800,000
liters of contaminating liquids from Mexico's beaches in 2002 alone. According
the new guidelines they elaborated in the Atlas de Contaminación Marina, closed
bays such as Acapulco and Zihuatanejo's must be especially vigilant because the
tides are insufficient carry the waste away into the open ocean that has been
not been properly processed and disposed of.
I've studied and observed
Latin American politics and public policy now for some10 years and I can say
that a clear effort is being made in earnest. The Secretaría de Marina has
recently put into effect some 600 control operations in coordination with the
similar minded agencies such as Coordinación de Programas Contra la
Contaminación and Protección al Medio Ambiente Marino. Together they've
implemented over 300,000 land inspections inspections and 6,000 maritime
operations around the coast in an effort to detect and address pollution. A good
effort that continues today.
In the case of Acapulco, in the past
Acapulco Bay was being contaminated with raw sewage and the city more generally
by helter-skelter over-development. It earned a deservingly bad reputation.
Things really began to turn around in the late 1990s and kicked into high gear
in the new millennium. After all, who the hell wants to visit a contaminated
beach?
Today Acapulco bay is in far better shape. Fortunately, there is
no heavy industry in Acapulco, no thermal inversion to keep the car exhaust
trapped, and a reasonably clean environment. The main issue around town is the
choking smoke and traffic congestion seen on too narrow roads like Chautemoc and
Ruíz Cortines which are, happily, pretty far removed from where tourists would
want to go.
When it comes to the environment, Acapulco is finally taking
charge.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
| What's happening
in Acapulco? |
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
