River Preservation

Group 4
Elle, Eunillo Dio
Pepito, Darius Earl
Ybarley, Joanna Grace
RIVER PRESERVATION IN MEXICO
GEOGRAPHY
• TOTAL AREA: 1,972,550 km2 (761,610 sq mi)

• LAND AREA: 1,923,040 km2 (742,490 sq mi)

• WATER AREA: 49,510 km2 (19,120 sq mi)

• COORDINATES: 23°00’N 102°00’W

• is a little over 3,200 km (2,000 mi) in length.

• Can be found in North America just below United States of America.

Mexico is three times the size of Texas.

• Mexico has a 9,330 kilometer coastline, of which 7,338 kilometers

face the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, and the remaining
2,805 kilometers front the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

• bounded to the north by the Unites States (specifically, from west to

east, by California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), to the west and
south by the Pacific Ocean, to the east by the Gulf Of Mexico, and to
the southeast by Belize, Guatemala, and the Caribbean Sea.
CLIMATE
• The climate of Mexico is highly varied according to its topography.

• Along the coast (on both sides of the country) it is hot and humid, unbearably so in
the summer.

• Inland communities at higher elevations such as Guadalajara (5200 ft above sea

level) and in particular close-by Lake Chapala, are much dryer and more temperate.

• Mexico City (Ciudad de Mexico), with its much higher elevation of 7545.93 ft (2300
sq meters) above sea level, can reach freezing temperatures in the winter. You'll be
surprised to find snow-capped volcanoes. San Miguel de Allende also experiences
colder winters due to its close proximity to Mexico City.
• The Tropic of Cancer effectively divides the country
into temperate and tropical zones. Land north of the twenty-fourth
parallel experiences cooler temperatures during the winter months.
South of the twenty-fourth parallel, temperatures are fairly constant year
round and vary solely as a function of elevation.
Nevado de Toluca Janos Biosphere Reserve Sierra de Arteaga

Chontalpa Basaseachic Falls National Park Selva Lacandona

LERMA RIVER AND ITS POLLUTANTS
• Mexico's second longest river. It is a 750 km-long (470 mi) river in
west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude
over 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) above sea level, and ends where it
empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near Guadalajara,
Jalisco.

• The Lerma River is notorious for its pollution, but the water quality
has demonstrated considerable improvement in recent years due
mostly to government environmental programs and through massive
upgrading projects of sanitation works.
• The River Lerma water is characterized by unpleasant; the color of the
water is black, subsequently turning to brown where there is
turbulent flow, and sometimes green where the flow is laminar or at a
slow current velocity

• Fatally infected by a considerable number of sources of pollution (like

factories), millions of dollars have been used in efforts to revive and
clean it

• the river is contaminated, as there are important industries and

factories in the same area (those that produce meat, dairy, beverages,
pulp and paper, leather goods, petrochemical and chemical products)
and they throw their wastes to the river.
RESTORATION OF RIVER BANKS
• Pioneered by the local government.

• Comparable to the Philippine’s rehabilitation of the Pasig River

• Somehow failed due to the lack of cooperation of the people living

near the riverbanks.

• Some industrial factories found up shore also failed to meet the

demands in order to restore the River
• Yet, lately, a new movement began in order to restore the Lerma River

• Strict rules and standards are now implemented in order to begin the
restoration of the dying and polluted Lerma River.

• Slowly but surely, the necessary actions are currently in order for the
restoration of the said river to be successful and bring the river back
into its healthy state.
WATER AND WASTEWATER ANALYSIS
• In a study by Martín López-Hernández , M. Guadalupe Ramos-
Espinosa , Manuel Guzmán-Arroyo and Fidel Payán-Zelaya, entitled
“Quantity and Quality of Water in the River Lerma—Lake Chapala
Watershed, Mexico” the quality of water in the Lerma River was
determined.

• Of all the watersheds in Mexico, Lake Chapala is the most investigated

since the 1960s. Studies include the change in its volume and area;
physical and chemical parameters; nutrients; primary production;
composition of algae and algal blooms; fisheries; and toxicological
studies of heavy metals in microorganisms and fish
Physical-chemical, changes in dry (May-June)-rainy (August-
September) seasons years 2004 and 2009.
Inorganic nutrients, changes in dry (May, June)-rainy
(August, September) seasons, years 2004 and 2009.
WATER AND WASTEWATER
TREATMENT
• Largely spearheaded by the government of Mexico

• Due to the severe pollution of the river and the river-basin, they
called the wastewater treatment "Large-Scale Sewage Treatment
Program“ in order to clean up the region.

• the first large-scale water treatment programme in Mexico,

undertaken as a result of widespread participation and not only as a
federal programme.
• deals with freshwater supply disinfection and building treatment
facilities able to cope with urban-industrial effluents. The projects
were mostly generated by State and Municipal authorities and
funding was raised by federal water rights, subsidies, and domestic
and foreign credits, private sector investments.

• The wastewater treatment program was planned in three stages. The

first stage, which ended in December 1994, was aimed at reducing
the organic pollution impact on the Lerma River basin by 50 per cent
and by 65 per cent in Lake Chapala. The goal was to build and operate
48 plants for municipal waste-water treatment, with an overall
capacity of 3,700 1 s-1. Global capital investments have been close to
367 million pesos (approximately US$ 80 million).
• However, both minor and major setbacks are encountered due to
some problems like maintenance of the said established treatment
facilities and also because of some financial issues with regard to the
continuation of the treatment process.

• However, steps are being taken in the right direction and the
momentum is gradually increasing.

• At the end, the cooperation of both the government, industrial

factories and the people living around the area influences a big factor
in the treatment of the Lerma River in order for it to reach a “healthy”
state.
HEALTH, VEGETATION &
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
• Nitrates – are especially dangerous to babies that drink formula milk.
It restricts the amount of oxygen in the brain and cause the “blue
baby” syndrome.

• Petrochemicals – even with very low exposure, can cause cancer.

• Pesticides – can damage the nervous system and cause cancer

because of the carbonates and organophosphates that they contain.
Chlorides can cause reproductive and endocrinal damage.
• Nitrate, a compound found in fertilizer, often contaminates drinking
water in agricultural areas. Infants who drink water too high in nitrates
can become seriously ill and even die.

• Ammonia - could cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat as well as
burning the skin where there is direct contact.

• Lead – can accumulate in the body and damage the central nervous
system.

• Arsenic – causes liver damage, skin cancer and vascular diseases

• Flourides - in excessive amounts can make your teeth yellow and cause
damage to the spinal cord.
• too much nitrogen and phosphorus in water can cause the faster
growth of algae than the ecosystem can handle. this significantly
decreases the oxygen amount in water reducing the number of other
acquatic lives (fishes, corals, etc).

• Some algar are harmful to humans due to the elevated toxins and
bacterial growth, and when consuming tainted seafood or drinking
contaminated water.

• Hatching and growth rates of fishes may be affected. In the structural

development, changes in tissues of gills, liver, and kidneys may also
occur. Toxic concentrations of ammonia in humans may cause loss of
equilibrium, convulsions, coma, and death.
• Industrial waste often contains many toxic compounds that damage
the health of aquatic animals and those who eat them. Some
toxins affect the reproductive success of marine life and can therefore
disrupt the community structure of an aquatic environment.

• Microbial pollutants from sewage often result in infectious diseases

that infect aquatic life and terrestrial life through drinking water. This
often increases the number of mortalities seen within an
environment.

• Organic matter and nutrients causes an increase in aerobic algae and

depletes oxygen from the water column. This is called eutrophication
and causes the suffocation of fish and other aquatic organisms.
REFERENCES
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lerma_River#Pollution
• https://globalvoices.org/2010/10/15/mexico-the-lerma-river-is-dying/
• https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=
lerma+river+pollution+solution&oq=
lerma+river+pollution+solution&aqs
=chrome..69i57.7651j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=
lerma+river+water+analysis
• http://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/waterandwaste/Conagua_looks
_to_end_Lerma_river_pollution
• http://
articles.latimes.com/1991-10-22/news/wr-156_1_lerma-river/3
• http://www.davidpublishing.com/davidpublishing/Upfile/3/4/2013/
2013030482612121.pdf
• http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/resourcesquality/wpcca
sestudy8.pdf
• http://file.scirp.org/pdf/JEP_2013071714455459.pdf
• http://choosechapala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Lerma-River
.pdf
• http://climatechange.thinkaboutit.eu/think4/post/lerma_a_dying_riv
er_in_mexico/
• http://www.focusonmexico.com/mexico-topics/climate-in-mexico.htm
l
• http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-deadly-rio-lerma
• http://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/how-does-water-pollution-a
ffect-humans
• https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/effects-human-health
• http://www.dummies.com/education/science/environmental-science/
how-does-water-pollution-endanger-human-health/
• http://apps.sepa.org.uk/spripa/Pages/SubstanceInformation.aspx?pid
=1
• https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/problem
• https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/emergency/chemical_ter
rorism/ammonia_tech.htm
• http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/environment.html
• https://www.pmfias.com/effects-water-pollution-health-environment
/
• https
://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/27265924/as-indicators-of-wate
r-quality-in-the-upper-lerma-river-mexico-
• http://www.ipcbee.com/vol23/4-CCEA2011-A010.pdf
 END
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING AND GOD BLESS.