Ecological disaster in Acatlán de Juárez and Tlajomulco de Zúñiga

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The enterprise that caused the death of tons of fish has already been closed down.

A spill of molasses and other feed enrichment products for pigs and cattle, from a company located in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zuniga, caused fish kills at the dam of the population of San Pedro Valencia, municipality of Juárez Acatlán, polluting that site which is the main source of employment for 250 people living in the community of the same name.

According to information from the fishing cooperative, it is estimated that the loss is over 300 tons of produce, tilapia and carp, but most troubling is the degree of contamination that could reach the water which is currently at 20 percent of its storage capacity, which the villagers hoped that would recover in this rainy season.

Due to the events that have been presented, the fishing cooperative will file a complaint made ​​against those responsible for the ecocide.

The municipal delegate, Arceo Arturo Evangelista, said that the problem began on Friday June 21 with a spill of what looks like molasses to a tributary of the dam and three days later, in the community of San Antonio Mazatepec they reported that the water was getting very red, therfore the town immediately made these facts known to the State Department for Environmental Protection (Proepa) to investigate these events.

In that sense, the actions in concrete started, where first the inspection points were defined by the Fishermen's Cooperative in coordination with the Municipal Government, making a tour of all storm water channels and drainage, thus reaching a company, in which it was found that large quantities of molasses were overflowing of its facilities to a canal that leads to the dam, and due to the rains that occurred in the week, made it so that the material spilled into the dam.

For now, the municipal authority of Juarez Acatlán ruled to quarantine the dam, and is waiting for laboratory results emited both by the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences (IJCF) and the State Water Commission (Conagua), instances who took water and fish samples to determine the nature and degree of damage.

It is worth noting that staff of the City Public Works, has been cleaning the area since last June 27 and implemented a pit for the final destination of the dead fish, while people from the Administrative Office coordinated themselves with the Department of Disaster Prevention to cordon off the affected area and safeguard the physical integrity of the population. Likewise they coordinated their activities with Public Security to alert the community about the problem of pollution and keep people away from the water.

On his behalf, the mayor of Tlajomulco de Zuniga, Ismael del Toro, said that as soon as he was aware of the environmental disaster that was caused by the company which also caused the death of fish in Hurtado Dam, being more affected the municipality of Acatlan, he ordered the closure of the company.

Likewise he requested the mayor of Acatlán de Juárez, as well as instances of state government, which have a coordination dedicated to such problems, to find a quick solution. He also noted that the violations of the company in question, are enough to keep it inoperative.

[readon1 url="http://vallartaopina.net/2013/07/01/ecocidio-en-acatlan-de-juarez-y-tlajomulco-de-zuniga"]Source: Vallarta Opina Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]