While Lake Chapala has been on a steady rise since the start of the rainy season in mid-June, experts on water resource management are concerned that government authorities aren’t doing enough to protect the environmental and prevent climate change disaster.
Unfavorable conditions in the Lerma-Santiago-Pacific watershed are in danger of becoming even more precarious due to the lack of vision and appropriate management, warns Raquel Gutierrez Najera, an expert on environmental law and conservation.
Gutierrez recently revealed the contents of a status report on the watershed that underlines deficiencies in planning, implementation of effective policies, application and congruency of legislation, supervision and inspection. The reports suggests authorities are not properly equipped to control and protect, not only the area around Lake Chapala, but across a vast region that impacts the lives of around 30 million inhabitants.
The report considered ideas for new public policies in the Lerma-Santiago-Pacifico region, which stretches over 190,000 square kilometers, encompassing the boundaries of Estado de Mexico, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Jalisco, Nayarit and the southern tip of Durango, administrated by the National Water Commission (Conagua).
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