News from Salvemos al Rio Laja
By Robin Luxmoore 

Salvemos al Rio Laja (SRL) continues work on the badly eroded rivers and streams of our watershed, a restoration project started in 2000.

The work includes environmental education at primary schools and among campesinos. A total of 1,884 students have received instruction in school sessions and by practical demonstrations in the field.

Our watershed, the largest in the state, is drained by the Rio Laja, which runs by San Miguel on its way to join Rio Lerma at Salamanca. Rio Lerma then continues to Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico and a source of water for Guadalajara.

Deforestation started many years ago and the recent exploitation of sand and gravel has turned year-round flow of the major rivers in our area into ephemeral waterways. Erosion and compaction of soils have reduced the retention of water that would normally soak into the ground and recharge our threatened aquifer.

About 400,000 hectares of land in Guanajuato, called the breadbasket of Mexico, is irrigated from the Independence Aquifer from which we draw our water. The water is declining at the rate of three to five meters a year. Erosion and poor agricultural practices are mostly to blame.

During the past year, SRL has used funds from Seretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), the federal ministry of environment, to build 1,350 structures on five hectares of eroded hill slopes above the San Marcos river near Cruz del Palmar. Sand and gravel miners have laid waste the river beds.

The SEMARNAT tinas ciegas are trenches two meters long, half a meter deep and wide. A bank of rocks from the river is placed behind each structure. Rainwater, instead of eroding the soils, feeds 3,600 freshly planted cacti and agaves. Between 35 and 50 campesinos were involved (mostly women) and were paid 98 pesos per structure. A further 40 hectares is receiving similar treatment, funded by Comision Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR), the federal ministry of forestry.

In the same area, 1,690 meters of terracing was completed and 500 small dams were built in the rivers and streams by 341 campesinos. A total of 4,787 trees have been planted along the rivers and at schools. 

Payment for Water Services (PWS) has been funded by the Tinker Foundation, Overbrook Foundation and Fondo Mexicano para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (FMCN) through USAID. The local name for this service is Todos por el Agua. At 10 pesos the annual amount collected would be 1,527,310 pesos. Some of this amount will be paid to the campesinos for the restoration work. These payments were not based on the amount of water used. Fifty farmers were also consulted, but those who irrigate do not pay for their water, except for the electrical costs of pumping, which can be quite high.


Dr. Adrian Ortega, a hydro-geologist from Univeridad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) campus Juriquilla near Querétero, said pumping water from a depth greater than 300 meters is not profitable. This has already been the case in San Luis de las Paz where irrigation has ceased largely because of the cost and the presence of naturally occurring sodium at that depth, which destroys soil productivity.

Central Mexico lost 80 percent of its forests through uncontrolled cutting in the past 45 years and half of its once-fertile land is seriously eroded. Springs, seeps and streams ran year-round in the late forties, but are now dry most of the year. The desertification of the area increases each year. 

Each year more agricultural land is washed away. Livestock trails can turn into small canyons after repeated storms and the soils become degraded, reducing their ability to hold water. The absence of trees and plants which would stabilize a river bank is a major factor in the erosion.

Uncontrolled goat grazing prevents reseeding of the grasses and without fences they destroy the newly planted trees. Some of the river lengths have become so distressed they cannot be restored.

Restoration efforts in our watershed began in 1992 with Sociedad Audubon de México, but Audubon abandoned the work in 2002, and now concentrate their efforts in El Charco del Ingenio and Parque Landeta.

For the last five decades, groundwater has been used with little concern for the future. Critical situations have developed in this region, increasing the risk of economic, social and environmental crisis. Dr. Ortega has said if no corrective measures are taken in the short term, this collapse will become a reality.

The aquifer may run dry in 10 years unless farmers cut consumption from their current 85 percent. Rainwater takes hundreds of years to seep down and replenish the aquifer, so rain falling today only benefits future generations. Surrounding aquifers also are threatened so we cannot move water around.

Robin Luxmoore is a director of Salvemos al Rio Laja.

The Rio Laja and Our Future Atahualpa Caldera Sosa Thu, Aug 27, 3pm Teatro Santa Ana Biblioteca Pública Insurgentes 25 60 pesos

Atahualpa Caldera Sosa is a community activist and an expert on watershed management. Both are qualities vital to the future of life on the high desert of San Miguel de Allende. In his talk, Ata Caldera focuses on the Rio Laja, whose basin is severely damaged, adversely affecting the life of rural communities. His family is currently developing a model eco-village using rainwater catchment, dry toilets, solar cookers and wind generators. He is a practical visionary who understands how current unsustainable practices are destroying our future.