Water wars: Indigenous locals go up against Mexico City airport
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
February 04, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 04, 2023
Water wars: Indigenous locals go up against Mexico City airport

World+Biz

Reuters
17 September, 2019, 06:05 pm
Last modified: 17 September, 2019, 06:10 pm

Related News

  • Biman aircraft suffers tire puncture during take-off at Sylhet airport
  • Power outage blacks out terminals at Los Angeles airport
  • Mexico keen to expand trade with Bangladesh
  • In Mexico, a reporter published a story. The next day he was dead
  • Operation and maintenance of Dhaka Airport's terminal-3 under PPP

Water wars: Indigenous locals go up against Mexico City airport

Set to be built on a military airbase called Santa Lucia, just a 15-minute drive from San Lucas, the project is being spearheaded by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Reuters
17 September, 2019, 06:05 pm
Last modified: 17 September, 2019, 06:10 pm
View of the Santa Lucia airbase and its surroundings from a hill above San Lucas Xolox, Mexico, August 20, 2019. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Oscar Lopez
View of the Santa Lucia airbase and its surroundings from a hill above San Lucas Xolox, Mexico, August 20, 2019. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Oscar Lopez

For most of his life, Filiberto Mena Laiza had worked the earth, growing carrots, cilantro, beans and other crops in what was once rich agricultural land some 50km north of Mexico City.

But as the metropolis of 21 million expanded in recent decades, swallowing up farmlands near the centuries-old town of San Lucas Xolox where Laiza lives, the 54-year-old indigenous farmer was forced to leave his livelihood behind.

Condos have sprung up where corn had grown before, bringing with them more people, pollution and crime, Laiza said.

After being robbed by unknown assailants of his earnings coming home from the fields one too many times, he decided farming had become too dangerous - and now operates a small taco stand with his wife in San Lucas' main square.

"The process of human development can't be stopped," Laiza said with a sigh of resignation.

"But what worries me is what are we going to leave for those that come after? ... Just garbage."

Now Laiza and others in his indigenous community fear they may be about to lose another battle against urbanisation - one revolving around Mexico City's new international airport.

Set to be built on a military airbase called Santa Lucia, just a 15-minute drive from San Lucas, the project is being spearheaded by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Months after winning a landslide election last year, the leftist leader announced he was cancelling a part-built $13 billion airport started by his predecessor, President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Lopez Obrador put the decision to a public, non-binding vote, with 70% of the roughly 1 million voters who participated opting to scrap the partially-constructed airport in favour of the Santa Lucia project.

But critics say that the nationwide vote, which polled just 1% of the electorate, did not consider the views of indigenous groups who will be most impacted.

Like Laiza, many worry that the 36-square-km development is going to suck up their rapidly dwindling resources, especially water from an aquifer that is already heavily depleted.

"Water is a vital liquid that moves us all," Laiza said. "Where will all the water that will be needed to maintain this monster come from?"

The head of Mexico's environment ministry, Semarnat, has publicly insisted that it has resolved the water problem.

"The water is going to be moved with an aqueduct, there aren't any major problems," Toledo Manzur told the press in September.

But residents are unconvinced, worrying not just about the airport itself, but also the surrounding infrastructure, which, they say, will alter the countryside.

"Logically, casinos, hotels and shopping malls are going to arrive," said Mateo Martinez Urbina, 63, a doctor in the nearby town of Tecamac and president of the local water board.

"More than benefits, (the airport) is going to bring us much harm."

Contaminated water

The Lopez Obrador administration has said the project will be environmentally sound and respect the communities surrounding the airport site.

"(It will) reduce emissions, waste production (and) save water," Gustavo Ricardo Vallejo Suarez, a former director of the Mexican military's school of engineers, who is overseeing the project, told reporters in April.

According to an environmental impact study by the engineering institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the airport also represents "a great opportunity for job creation ... that favour(s) current inhabitants and future generations."

Environmental experts, however, say the concerns of Laiza and other residents regarding water resources are well founded.

“Our way of life is over,” said Antonio Rojas, 67, standing in a field outside of San Lucas Xolox, Mexico, August 20, 2019. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Oscar Lopez
“Our way of life is over,” said Antonio Rojas, 67, standing in a field outside of San Lucas Xolox, Mexico, August 20, 2019. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Oscar Lopez

A study from the Mexican government published in 2015 found that the aquifer underneath Santa Lucia and its surroundings was already operating at a deficit of more than 58 million cubic metres per year.

But Eric Galindo Castillo, a scientist and professor at the Latin American Technological Institute in the state of Hidalgo, said the government figures do not take into account the dozens of illegal wells in the area.

The real deficit, he said in emailed comments, is closer to 400 million cubic metres per year - and that is before the airport even begins construction.

"It's unimaginable," Galindo Castillo said of the Santa Lucia project. "It lacks planning. You put more infrastructure, you're going to take more water. But from where?"

When approached for comment, the environment ministry referred the Thomson Reuters Foundation to a series of pre-prepared infographics and presentations regarding the Santa Lucia project.

In its diagnosis of the airport's regional environment, Semarnat acknowledged that "in relation to the bodies of water, the aquifers are overexploited (and) contaminated by the discharge of sewage from the urban area and industry".

In another document, the ministry said it would not take water from the aquifer under Santa Lucia, drawing instead from another aquifer in nearby Hidalgo.

But according to Galindo Castillo, this plan is not viable given the scope of the airport project: the aquifer in Hidalgo, he points out, is heavily contaminated, creating a potential environmental hazard for the surrounding communities.

"Pollution (in the Hidalgo aquifer) is primordial," he said. "The moment you extract more water, you're going to leave all those contaminants in the subsoil."

Legal trouble

Public concerns about the aquifers and other environmental issues have landed the airport project in some legal trouble.

In August, a state judge overruled Semarnat's approval for the airport after a collective of civil society organisations, law firms and citizens called #NoMasDerroches (No More Waste), filed an injunction request.

The ruling has effectively put a halt to the airport construction until the injunction is resolved.

The case is one of more than 80 court proceedings brought against the Santa Lucia project - most of them by #NoMasDerroches - in what Lopez Obrador called a "legal sabotage" during a press conference in August.

But despite the delays, local residents are resigned to the fact that, eventually, the airport will be built, transforming their fading way of life in the process.

"This is a ticking time bomb," said Laiza, the taco vendor.

"We're not going to be able to stop it - we have to be honest with ourselves ... I just want them to respect my town."

Top News

Mexico / Indigenous / airport

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Is the IMF to blame for growing pressure on your wallet?
    Is the IMF to blame for growing pressure on your wallet?
  • Dr Salehuddin Ahmed. Illustration: TBS
    Reforms in banking must to sustain financial sector
  • With only one government run specialised cancer hospital in the capital — the National Institute Of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) in Mohakhali — patients have no option but to resort to private hospitals. Photo: Noor A Alam.
    Cancer care: Medical treatment and beyond

MOST VIEWED

  • FILE PHOTO: A balloon flies in the sky over Billings, Montana, U.S. February 1, 2023 in this picture obtained from social media. Chase Doak/via REUTERS
    Second spy balloon spotted over Latin America, says Pentagon
  • A Ukrainian serviceman walks near a destroyed tank at sunset, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, near Izium, Ukraine, October 31, 2022. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo
    US allows seized Russian money to go to Ukraine aid: report
  • Flags of China and Russia are displayed in this illustration picture taken March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
    China says political trust with Russia has deepened after envoy's visit
  • People bundled up against winter weather walk in midtown Manhattan as bitter cold temperatures moved into much of the northeast United States in New York City, New York, U.S., February 3, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar
    Arctic blast grips US Northeast, bringing frostbite-threatening temperatures
  • U.S. President Joe Biden holds a news conference following his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, ahead of the G20 leaders' summit, in Bali, Indonesia, November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
    Biden sounds ready to seek 2nd term while rallying Democrats
  • Photo: Collected
    6th officer fired after beating death of Tyre Nichols

Related News

  • Biman aircraft suffers tire puncture during take-off at Sylhet airport
  • Power outage blacks out terminals at Los Angeles airport
  • Mexico keen to expand trade with Bangladesh
  • In Mexico, a reporter published a story. The next day he was dead
  • Operation and maintenance of Dhaka Airport's terminal-3 under PPP

Features

Photo: Noor-A-Alam

Say 'Salud' before your salad main course

1h | Food
With only one government run specialised cancer hospital in the capital — the National Institute Of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) in Mohakhali — patients have no option but to resort to private hospitals. Photo: Noor A Alam.

Cancer care: Medical treatment and beyond

2h | Panorama
Andy Mukherjee. Sketch: TBS

What makes India's billionaires' support special for Adani

1d | Panorama
Photo: Rejaul Hafiz Rahi

A jackal farewell

1d | Earth

More Videos from TBS

A proper price formula can help investors to plan big

A proper price formula can help investors to plan big

1d | TBS Round Table
Rumors about Sarika that everyone thinks are true

Rumors about Sarika that everyone thinks are true

1d | TBS Entertainment
Mugging rife in Tejgaon, murder in Wari

Mugging rife in Tejgaon, murder in Wari

1d | TBS Current Affairs
What secrets are hidden behind Adani's wealth?

What secrets are hidden behind Adani's wealth?

1d | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

3
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

6
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]