Effects of untreated sewage on the Mesoamerican Reef

[Dave Dillehay]

Some of these comments are sound, that the current is flowing to the north and does anyone expect that downtown sewage would migrate to our beautiful reefs down south? Palmeras to Palancar in high concentration—I doubt it.

On the other hand the big southern resorts are certainly pumping out sewage that is in high concentrations and localized to all Marine Park Reefs (maybe not El Islote).

And yes, the best result is to get ALL accommodations in Cozumel on a good sewage treatment, but that is a "bridge too far" and not very likely to happen in our lifetime. On the other hand, a new treatment plant in the south, and a way to enforce connection down there could be seen as feasible…and have much better results than plugging up all sources in town or north.

AS to pollution coming to us from the open Caribbean, that should result in similar problems on both sides of the island. Diving the east side a lot, Aldora DMs have seen much less of the brain coral damage in some places such as Leatherback Reef, and Ventanas. Oddly enough Hanan is a mess, but generally the east side has fared much better than the national park leading one to believe that runoff and sewage from the southern hotel zone is a major factor, far outweighing that from the open Caribbean.

In summation (then I enjoy Christmas Day) If the goal is to save the Marine Park that the quickest and most easily accomplished is to insist on a Sewage Treatment Plant for all southern sources.

Merry Christmas y'all.

Dave Dillehay

 

[DandyDon]

Why do some hotels on Coz prohibit flushing toilet paper? Is it because they are not connected to the sewer system? If so, I assume they are on septic tanks and flushing some types of TP will clog them?? Are they contributing to the problem?

I think that they are connected to the sewer okay, but the original building in town did not allow for TP, so their pipes can clog more easily. Most of Mexico and indeed - most of the world was built like that. With decades of Americans ignoring the requests and flushing TP anyway and causing problems, many hotels were upgraded. Other buildings use lye to clear the pipes when tourists use their johns and clog the pipes.

People keep saying the downtown waste is swept to cuba. Whose waste is being swept to us?

Well, the Canary current off of Africa becomes the North Equatorial current and feeds the Caribbean current that cleans the shores of Venezuela, the southern Caribbean Sea, and Central American with the worst polluters before heading towards Cozumel, skirting both east and west banks. With varying fluctuations, Florida, Bahama, etc water can head back down into the main current to go around again. More details and zoomable photo at North Atlantic Gyre - Wikipedia

 

[Dave Dillehay]

They should all be connected intown. I just think the lines are so old and decaying it causes clogs. I have never been anywhere in mexico you could flush tp.

As to TP in toilets, I am pretty sure that is more a factor of low water pressure for flushing and poor internal plumbing. Stay at Villa Aldora and you can wipe all you want and send in to the treatment plant with a pull of the handle.

Dave Dillehay

 

[cvchief]

Why do some hotels on Coz prohibit flushing toilet paper? Is it because they are not connected to the sewer system? If so, I assume they are on septic tanks and flushing some types of TP will clog them?? Are they contributing to the problem?
(Unlike some folks here, I am not a sewage specialist...)

I was always told the TP thing was about the size of the lines generally and they, especially the oldest, are kinda small?

And when you talk about runoff from rain, generally it is a problem if that gets into the sanitary sewer. It is obvious when in Coz you see 'water' coming out of sewer lids. The more hidden part is that all the water in the sewer can overwhelm a sewer plant, ie it overflows somewhere because it can't process it fast enough. In the US, our town system just did a smoke test where they literally pumped fog into the system and then drove around looking for smoke to find the holes where storm water could enter the system and fixing them. (It also gets the people that run their sump pumps into the system when their house fills with fog. hehe) Even a relatively smaller amount of water can screw up all the bacteria balances they use to process the effluent. I can't imagine what a big storm that puts a foot of water in some streets does to the effectiveness of the Coz system when it is so much it is actually running back out of the manholes.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Actually the manhole covers are for rain runoff, not the sewer system. When a big rain event happens and water is 5 feet deep inland I have seen 15 ft geysers blowing out the covers. But your point is well taken about overloading a sewer system. But that is not a steady event like the deep dumping holes at the southern hotels.

BTW Mexican Federal law, applying to everywhere allows sewage dumping in any hole at least 50 m (150 feet) deep. That works for a lot of places but not for limestone substrate like we have in Q. Roo.

Yes, I'm off t0 Christmas with my kids now!

Dave Dillehay

 

[DandyDon]

BTW Mexican Federal law, applying to everywhere allows sewage dumping in any hole at least 15 m (150 feet) deep.

15 m or 150 feet or what?

 

[cvchief]

Actually the manhole covers are for rain runoff, not the sewer system. When a big rain event happens and water is 5 feet deep inland I have seen 15 ft geysers blowing out the covers. But your point is well taken about overloading a sewer system. But that is not a steady event like the deep dumping holes at the southern hotels.

BTW Mexican Federal law, applying to everywhere allows sewage dumping in any hole at least 50 m (150 feet) deep. That works for a lot of places but not for limestone substrate like we have in Q. Roo.

Yes, I'm off t0 Christmas with my kids now!

Dave Dillehay

Merry Christmas Dave!

I wasnt trying to rate it as to the seriousness of it. It was more just noting you need to keep the rain water out of the sewer. I am sure you are right about storm sewers, but I know I have smelled some that were NOT storm water overflowing.

 

[DandyDon]

I am sure you are right about storm sewers, but I know I have smelled some that were NOT storm water overflowing.

Has cousin Eddie been in town...??

 

[Dave Dillehay]

15 m or 150 feet or what?

been corrected, 50 m
dave

 

[cvchief]

@Dave Dillehay

They were talking about the sewer running out of the sewer manhole down by the Cougar today. Apparently they do in fact have a serious infiltration issue in addition to the everything else. This is Nemecio who kind of knows alot.... I thought this might be of interest. What is interesting is besides blowing out of manholes, I bet it just SLAMS the plant. Of course out there all by itself, they probably can figure out something to do with what the plant can't handle..... wink wink....

He also mentioned the sewer belongs to the state water company CAPA as well. I didn't know that. So the city is at their mercy as well. Of course CAPA is having a hard time delivering water in the water pipes too, so I bet sewer is second on their list. I mean if they have a list....