Thu Feb 25, 2010 at 00:01:53 AM EST
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Tehuacán Valley, Mexico Remains Resilient as Nation Faces Worst Water Crisis in Decades
Severe water scarcity is a daily reality for many in Mexico, particularly the people of Tehuacán Valley. Facing a dwindling supply compounded by development, drought, and pollution one organization models a solution.
By Andrew Maddocks
Circle of Blue |
| Miep :: Circle of Blue; Tehuacan Valley, Mexico |
There's no water distribution infrastructure in Mexico's San Marcos Tlacoylaco, and clean freshwater has been scarce as well as prohibitively expensive to buy for decades. But help is on its way to San Marcos, a town of about 10,000 people in the upper Tehuacán Valley, because new rainwater storage tanks and sewage-recycling systems in individual homes are making water more accessible to families.
A Mexican non-profit group, Alternativas, is at the sources of this economic and social change in San Marcos. Alternativas has developed a two-pronged approach aimed at residences and farms that involves water management systems for residences coupled with a campaign to replace corn with amaranth as a staple crop. This ecologically-based water conservation model, tested in San Marcos and 200 other towns, is seen as a potential strategy for solving the uncertain future for all of Tehuacán Valley's increasingly troubled water supply.
Indeed, a prolonged drought last year that damaged the nation has made water scarcity in Tehuacán worse. The already limited supply has also been compromised by population growth, funding shortages and pollution. More people than ever-from every class and background-have lost access to clean water for days at a time. Facets of Mexico's economy have been severely damaged as its deepest aquifers have been drained.
Good long article. |
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