Lerma River

The Lerma Santiago River (Río Lerma Santiago) is Mexico's second longest river. It is a 965-km-long (603 mile-long) river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexico's central plateau at an altitude over 3,000 meters above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest tropical lake, near Guadalajara, Jalisco. The river is notorious for its pollution, but the water quality has demonstrated considerable improvement in recent years due mostly to government environmental programs and through massive upgrading projects of sanitation works.

River's Path

The Lerma River originates from the Lerma lagoons near Almoloya del Río, on a plateau more than convert|2600|m|ft above sea level, and convert|24|km|mi southeast of Toluca. The lagoons receive their water from springs rising from basaltic volcanics that flow down from Monte de Las Cruces. These are located between the Valley of Toluca and the Mexico Basin.cite book |last=Estebanez(ed) |first=Francisco |authorlink= |coauthors=Jorge Arturo Gonzalez |title=The State of Mexico |year=2002 |publisher=Ediciones Nueva Guia |location=Mexico City |isbn=968 5437 26 2 ]

The river forms the short border between the states of Querétaro and Michoacán then flows west/northwest through the state of Guanajuato. After turning southward, the river separates Guanajuato and Michoacán, and Michoacán and Jalisco before flowing, after a course of about convert|560|km|mi, into Lake Chapala, convert|24|km|mi west-southwest of La Barca. cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title =Lerma River |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britanica Onliine |publisher=Britanica |url= http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9047882/Lerma-River |id= ] It has a length of convert|750|km|mi. When it empties into Lake Chapala, the system stands at convert|1510|m|ft above sea level.

Some people consider the convert|400|km|mi long Río Grande de Santiago, which continues from Lake Chapala northwest towards the Pacific Ocean, to be a continuation of the Lerma River.

Importance in Mexico

During the 17th and 18th centuries large haciendas were established along this river, including the Atenco ranch, which was founded with bulls that belonged to Hernán Cortés. The bulls from this area are considered some of the finest stock for bullfighting. The river is dotted with cities such as Lerma, México and San Mateo Atenco to small picturesque villages with cultural significance such as Malinalco.

The Lerma River/Lake Chapala basin is considered to be the most important watershed in the country by the federal government. Cite techreport| first=R./I. | last= Helmer/ Hespanhol | title=How good are branching rules in DPLL |isbn= 0 419 22910 8| Institution=WHO| Year=1997 |url=http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/resourcesquality/wpccasestudy8.pdf ] With its major tributaries, the Laja, Apaseo, and Turbio the Lerma constitutes Mexico's largest river system. The Lerma River is not navigable by water craft, but it is critical to regional agricultural irrigation. In the Lerma River/Lake Chapala watershed, 52,125 of the total 78,000 (roughly 67%) farmers are classified as small farmers. Currently 820,000 hectares are irrigated and an estimated three million hectares are in agricultural production. cite web |url= http://www.cityfarmer.org/chapala.html |title= Microfarm Project using Simplified Hydroponics and Fertigation in the Lerma Chapala Basin, Mexico |accessdate= 2008-08-04 ]

The population in the watershed as of 1997 was 9.35 million with an annual growth rate slightly less thanthe national average. The population is distributed among 6,224 localities; 18 of these have a population greater than 50,000 inhabitants. The rural population is currently 32 per cent. The Lerma's water is also a source for the municipal water supply in the Guadalajara and Toluca metropolitan areas. While water extration and use has been adequate for the region's larger population centers, rural areas have had chronic problems with access to potable water from the river and the aquifiers that feed it. Wells drilled into these aquifiers have very low yields.

Pollution

The Lerma River has had chronic problems with pollution. Most of the problems are due to untreated and under-treated wastewater being discharged into the river. Reserviors constructed to control the highly varied flow of the river are often choked with water hyacinths due to the excess nutrients that the untreated effluent provides. The most important industries in the Lerma River area are those that produce meat, dairy, produce, beverages, pulp and paper,leather goods, petrochemical and chemical products. Little or no emphasis on wastewater treatment and recycling has been imposed upon these economic activies.

The situation became extremely bad in the last 1980's because of erratic water policies that did little or nothing to regulate water use among competing interests and failed to consider the effects of upstream activties to those living downstream. Government plans were drawn up due to intense public pressure leading to improvement of the water quality in the 1990's. By 1997, 45 plants with a treatment capacity of 5.72 m3 s-1 were operating on a regular basis with an average running efficiency of about 70 per cent. Six further treatment facilities were under construction to raise the regional capacity to 9.56 m3 s-1. In Lake Chapala, which the Lerma River flows, water quality improved from 90% of the lake having poor water quality in 1989 to 85% of the lake having good quality in 1997. However, the worst water quality was still closest where the Lerma River discharged into the lake.

However, in the decade beginning in 2000, contamination levels of the river system have again become alarming, with studies in Michoacán and Guanajuato documenting an increase in cancer and neurocisticercosis in populations that live near the river. cite web |url= http://terratoxnews.blogspot.com/2007/08/mxico-aseveran-que-el-ro-lerma-trae.html |title= Mexico: Aserveran que el Rio Lerma trae muerte en el municipio de Pénjamo |accessdate= 2008-08-04 ] The Lerma River portion of the Lerma/Chapala basin is considered to be the most polluted, especially in stretches closest to its source near Almoloya del Río. Since 2005, industrial contaminants have become a serious concern as well as the continuing loss of plant life in and around the river itself. cite news |first=Cuca |last=Domínguez |authorlink= |author= |coauthors= |title=Río Lerma, el más contaminado de la cuenca |url=http://www.correo-gto.com.mx/notas.asp?id=17770 |format= |work= |publisher=Correo: El diario del estado de Guanajuato |location=Guanajuato |id= |pages= |page= |date=March 12, 2007 |accessdate=2008-08-04 |language=Spanish |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= ] In 2005, thousands of fish suddenly died in the river in the municipality of Pénjamo in Guanajuato state when effluent flow depleted the oxygen in that part of the river. cite news |first=MARTIN DIEGO |last=RODRIGUEZ CORRESPONSAL |authorlink= |author= |coauthors= |title=Severa contaminación del río Lerma causa mortandad de peces en Pénjamo |url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/08/10/039n1est.php|format= |work= |publisher=La Jornada |location=Mexico City |id= |pages= |page= |date= August 10, 2005 |accessdate=2008-08-04 |language=Spanish |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= ] The lower parts of the river, closer to Lake Chapala are in better shape because there is less urbanization there.

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