Free Flow

[

] 230

ater

ooperation

, S

ustainability

and

overty

radication

Development in Pátzcuaro, and at the Biotechnology

Unit of Tzurumútaro, demonstrative areas were

developed for the transfer of appropriate water tech-

nologies. Four environmental education areas (known

as ecological houses) were installed in the four lake-

side municipalities of the watershed: Pátzcuaro,

Erongarícuaro, Quiroga and Tzintzuntzan. A dedicated

website was created and several radio and televi-

sion programmes were produced. All of these efforts

have helped reach out to the population at all levels,

which has led to an increasingly participative, better-

informed society with more openness and interest in

the programme.

In compliance with the National Water Law, the Lake

Pátzcuaro Watershed Commission was created with

support from the programme. It was installed on 18

May 2004 as an ancillary body of the Lerma-Chapala

Watershed Council to help identify problems and

solution proposals, and support decision-making. The

commission comprises representatives of all the sectors

and water users involved in the watershed. Among their

first actions, its members made a formal commitment

to the programme in order to ensure its continuity and

take on the responsibility of its follow-up and evalua-

tion, so that guidelines could be issued to attain and

maintain the sustainable development of the watershed.

In order to improve and increase infrastructure and

practices for treating the wastewater generated in the

watershed that flows into the lake, several studies were

developed that have enabled the analysis and assessment,

using hydrodynamic models, of proposals for contamina-

tion control. Water collectors have been rehabilitated and

five wetlands have been created for the treatment of rural

wastewater. Prominent among these are Cucuchucho,

Santa Fe de la Laguna, Erongarícuaro, San Jerónimo

Purenchécuaro and San Francisco Uricho, whose treated

wastewater quality now exceeds the requirements of the

official Mexican standards. In addition, part of the treated

wastewater is used for small-scale agricultural production

and the plants that grow there, such as reed and chuspata

(a type of thin cane), are used for producing local hand-

crafts. In the same context, the rehabilitation of existing

infrastructure has been promoted and supported, as in

the case of the San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro biodigester.

Together, these small rural works and actions benefit

more than 10,000 inhabitants in rural areas, around

40 per cent of the population with the highest level of

poverty. Treating wastewater also contributes to the

reduction of waterborne diseases which especially affect

the child population, and enhances the image and quality

of touristic services.

Noteworthy projects in the area of sanitation include

the main collector of the Guani River and the rehabili-

tation of the San Pedrito and Las Garzas wastewater

treatment plants in Pátzcuaro. With these works, 120

litres per second (l/s) of wastewater can be treated,

which represents close to 60 per cent of the total

discharges within the watershed. Since both plants

comply with regulatory requirements, they were

rise to the Program for the Environmental Rehabilitation of the

Lake Pátzcuaro Watershed. This programme incorporates efforts,

resources and wills from:

• the federal Government through the Ministry of Environment

and Natural Resources, the National Water Commission and the

Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA)

• the Government of the State of Michoacán through the Ministry

of Urbanism and Environment

• the municipal governments of Pátzcuaro, Quiroga,

Tzintzuntzan, Erongarícuaro and Huiramba

• the University of Michoacán at San Nicolás de Hidalgo

• the Autonomous University of Zacatecas

• different non-governmental organizations (NGOs), notably the

Gonzalo Rio Arronte Foundation

• civil society at large.

The agreement was ratified by all parties involved on 26 February

2008 and concluded in 2011.

In order to promote the programme and foster the participation

of the population, several cultural activities were developed, espe-

cially among children. One of these was a workshop titled ‘Uno,

dos, tres por mí y por toda la Cuenca’ (‘One, two, three for me

and all the watershed’)

, which took place in the city of Quiroga

with the participation of more than 300 children. Other work-

shops on environmental education included ‘Encaucemos el Agua’

(‘Let’s Give Water a Course’), ‘Water Culture for Children’, envi-

ronmental education workshops with a gender approach for men

and women of the four lakeside municipalities, training of trainers

workshops, environmental and water culture workshops, and the

special workshop ‘Discover a watershed: Lake Pátzcuaro’. The latter

was inspired on the Discover a Watershed series from the USA-based

International Project Water Education for Teachers, a guide for

which was published by IMTA in collaboration with the Ministry

of Environment and Natural Resources and the Government of the

State of Michoacán, with the financial support of the Gonzalo Río

Arronte Foundation.

Some 225 courses and workshops have been imparted, covering

diverse topics such as fostering social participation, environmental

education and culture, training needs, management and operation

of wastewater treatment plants, adaptation and transfer of appro-

priate water technologies, and training of trainers. To date, more

than 2,500 people have been trained, among them 1,206 primary

education teachers.

With the aim of raising awareness on environmental problems

among the population, motivating social participation and dissemi-

nating achievements, a brochure for promoting the campaign for

the management of solid waste was produced with a print run of

110,000 copies. Ten thousand copies of the children’s booklet

Discover Lake Pátzcuaro

were produced and distributed and 100

sets of the board game

Discover a Watershed: Lake Pátzcuaro

were

produced. Three video documentaries –

Water, the Lake, Our Life

;

What we Know about our Forests; and

The Lake that Drinks from the

Trees

– were produced and 100 copies of each distributed. And 100

copies of the multimedia

Discover a Watershed: Lake Pátzcuar

o were

produced and distributed for use in public schools.

The Information Centre on the Mexican Salamander (an

endangered species known locally as ‘achoque’) was improved,

equipped and provided with additional bibliographical material.

At the Regional Centre of Education and Training for Sustainable