The mayors of Benito Juárez, Álvaro Obregón and Miguel Hidalgo They demanded the implementation of the Army’s DN-III Plan in the face of the crisis unleashed by water contamination.
“We have requested the Ministry of the Interior, through a joint letter from the three mayors, to activate the DN-III plan and formalize the presence of the Army that already exists,” Miriam Rodrígez, mayor of Álvaro Obregón, said in a conference.
“The DN-III Plan requires the coordination of authorities at all levels, including mayors. We demand that a health emergency be declared in all neighborhoods where contaminated water is recorded,” he added.
This after the mayor of Benito Juárez, Jaime Mata, accused the capital government of not coordinating with the demarcation to address said problem.
What happens in the Benito Juárez mayor’s office with contaminated water?
Since the beginning of April, residents of the Benito Juárez mayor’s office accused that the water coming out of the taps in their homes smelled like gasoline, plasticine or oil.
On April 3, The Sun of Mexico documented several cases from neighbors, who detailed that the problem had been going on since mid-March, although believing that it was an isolated case that came only from their homes, they tried to ignore the light yellow water that came out of the pipes.
It was not until April 6 that the head of government of Mexico City, Martí Batres, reported that they were already analyzing water samples from almost 400 houses in Benito Juárez.
At that time, the capital’s president ruled out the presence of hydrocarbon in the Santa Lucía tank and the Rosendo Arnaiz, Miraflores and Jardín Pomo wells, from where the residents of said municipality receive water.
However, residents held protests to demand that the authorities urgently address the issue of contaminated wateras some citizens even accused them of having skin problems.
Later, some of the residents alerted the authorities due to the smell of hydrocarbons from the water well located in the Alfonso XIII Garden in the Álamos neighborhood.
The water well was then secured by personnel from Water System, National Guard and Pemex, which caused the neighbors to whom water is distributed from that well to be left without a supply of liquid.
Finally, it was not until April 10 that Martí Batres reported that the origin of the contaminated water had already been found in Benito Juarez and that, indeed, it came from the well that had been closed thanks to complaints from neighbors.