July 04, 2008, cont. from front page, San Miguel and Atotonilco: World Heritage sites?, Results of the latest city council meeting, By Jesús Ibarra, Va por San Miguel meeting, Fire fighters face emergency, By Suzanne Ludekens

This year, on July 1, a water collection system was installed at the school in the community of San Miguel Viejo, funded completely by the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday. Similar systems are planned for other affected communities in the municipality.

With support from the Ecosystem Sciences Foundation (ESF, an international nonprofit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to improving lives by restoring and improving management of environmental resources), the Ecology Department, the Urban Development Department

(Dirección de Desarrollo Urbano y Ordenamiento Territorial) and SAPASMA (Sistema de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de San Miguel de Allende; Potable Water and Sewage System of San Miguel de Allende) water in several rural wells was sampled and found to contain high concentrations of fluoride. Most of these are near Presa Allende. The ecology standard NOM-127-SSA1-1994 establishes that the permissible level for fluoride content in drinking water is 1.5 milligrams per liter. The level of fluoride found in the wells of 19 communities ranged from 1.7 in La Cieneguita to 4 milligrams per liter in Guerrero and Agustín González. More than 6,200 people live in these 19 communities. The problem has been partially solved in Agustin González, a community with more than 500 inhabitants, with water collection systems installed at the Justo Sierra school and the health center.

According to Julio Bernal, coordinator of the air and water division of the Ecology Department, installing a collection system in the community of Guerrero was a priority, but a small group of the 190 inhabitants of this very poor, indigenous community opposed the project.

“We were even supported by the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de Pueblos Indígenas (National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Towns) to install the system, but the attitude of the people ended the project,” he said.

The Ecology Department plans to install water collection systems in eight communities with the most critical contamination problems by the end of this year. A ninth community, Cruz del Palmar, has applied to be included on the list owing to a problem with manganese pollution.

“Residents of the community came to us and asked to be considered because of the high levels of manganese in their water,” said Bernal. “The allowable manganese level is 0.5 milligrams per liter. We have two samples of water from this community. The first one, taken in 2001, showed 1.46 milligrams per liter, and the second, from 2003, showed concentrations of 2.4 milligrams per liter.”

High levels of fluoride in water can cause dental deformations, mainly in children, and can damage tooth enamel through a process known as dental fluoridation, staining teeth yellow-brown. It also causes calcium deficiency, which makes bones susceptible to fractures. High levels of manganese can cause fetal brain damage, respiratory problems and altered sexual function.

Help from the Rotary in San Miguel Viejo

San Miguel Viejo is a rural community of more than 400 inhabitants located just past the railroad at the end of Calzada de la Estación. The water supply in San Miguel Viejo was found to contain 2.1 milligrams of fluoride per liter.

“This last year, one of the main focuses of Rotary Clubs all around the world was water,” said Gordon Logan and David Bossman, former and current presidents of the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday. “We knew that there were some problems with fluoride in water in some rural communities in the municipality, so we were very interested when the Ecology Department set up the water collection system in Agustín González. We went with Don Patterson, head of the Ecology Department, and told him we wanted to sponsor a water collection project. He accepted our offer, since the department does not have enough funds to cover all the communities with this problem.”

Although San Miguel Viejo was not on the list of priorities, since its fluoride level is considered moderate compared to that in Agustín González and Guerrero, the Rotary Club decided to sponsor the system in this community for several reasons. “We went through the priority list and we felt that Don had already developed a plan for those communities that are highest on the list. The government was already attacking that problem and they had already committed funds for those projects based on their budget. We were given another list of secondary priorities, and San Miguel Viejo was highest on the list,” said Bossman.

Logan said that there were other reasons for choosing San Miguel Viejo: the location, which provides easy access for members of the Rotary Club who wish to visit the project, and the relatively large population compared with other communities on the list. “It also has appeal not just for Mexicans but also for the foreign community. San Miguel Viejo was the original site of San Miguel,” said Logan. The settlement was founded by Fray Juan de San Miguel around 1540.

The water collection system in San Miguel Viejo was installed at the Benito Juárez Primary School, which has 71 students. It will also benefit the Sputnik Kindergarten, next to the primary school, which has 56 students.

The project, coordinated by Enrique Orvañanos and Bob Leonard, members of the Rotary Club Midday, cost a little more than US$17,000. Bossman and Logan said that the Rotary Club of San Miguel was greatly supported in this project by the Rotary Club of West U, in Houston, Texas.

Bossman added that the Rotary Club will be participating in a Rotary competitive grant with more than US$100,000 for water projects involving at least five other communities, some of them on the priority list.

Community Name	Fluoride Concentrations (mg/L)	Risk Category	Population

Guerrero	4.0	High	190

Agustín González	4.0	High	515

Aurora	3.2	High	24

Montecillo de Nieto	2.8	High	220

Los Torres	2.4	High	335

Don Juan	2.4	High	103

San Francisco	2.2	High	172

Fraccionamiento El Nigromante	2.2	High	1126

San Miguel Viejo	2.1	Moderate	471

Boca de la Cañada	2.1	Moderate	286

Vergel de los Laureles	2.0	Moderate	189

Loma de Cocina	2.0	Moderate	283

Rancho Nuevo Villa de Guadalupe	1.9	Moderate	114

Salitrillo	1.8	Moderate	276

Salitre	1.8	Moderate	119

San Antonio de la Joya	1.8	Moderate	208

Santuario de Atotonilco	1.8	Moderate	609

Lindero	1.7	Moderate	171

La Cieneguita	1.7	Moderate	875

The rainwater harvesting system was designed by Ilam Addler of the International Renewable Resources Institute, who also designed the system in Agustín González.

It consists of PVC gutters attached to the school’s roof that carry water to a tank where it is filtered to remove solid matter such as insects, leaves and soil. Then it goes to two storage containers with a combined capacity of 135,000 liters, one underground and the other above ground. From there, it is pumped to the school’s drinking fountains after passing through another filtration system containing activated charcoal, a substance called KDF, and silver ions which removes all odor and flavor. According to Addler, this water is cleaner than commercial purified water. After a month of rain the storage containers will be full and there will be enough water to supply the school for at least 11 months, assuming that each child drinks two liters of water a day.

San Miguel and Atotonilco: World Heritage sites?

The 32nd Session of the Cultural Heritage Committee, July 2–10 in Québec, Canada, is where proposals are considered for registration of new sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. San Miguel de Allende and the Shrine of Atotonilco might get this distinction.

Francisco López Morales, head of Patrimonio Mundial del INAH (INAH’s World Heritage department), trusts that the candidacy will be approved since “all the authenticity and integrity criteria required to be included on the list have been achieved.”

Mayor Jesús Correa said that with “the inclusion of San Miguel and the Shrine on the list, they could have access to the funds and financial and technical support UNESCO provides to all World Heritage sites.”

City Secretary Cristóbal Finkelstein explained that with this inclusion, San Miguel would achieve a status in cultural tourism which would attract more international visitors to the city, increasing local employment and the economy.

Finally, Francisco Vidargas, second director of INAH’s World Heritage department, said that UNESCO would not be recognizing only isolated monuments, but “the whole historic, artistic, natural, cultural and social group which the city represents, a singular example of mixed races in the whole country.”

Due to the possible recognition, officials who traveled to Québec on July 2 were Mayor Correa; Finkelstein; Francisco Peyret, head of Tourism, Economic Development and International Realtions (Turismo, Fomento Económico y Relaciones Internacionales); Guillermo González Engelbretch, manager of the Tourist Council (Consejo de Turismo), and city councilor (regidor) Rodolfo Pérez.

Three important decisions were made at the last city council meeting held June 26. Council members voted to allot more than one million pesos to acquire the municipal reservoir in order to increase the land holdings of the local government and an additional five million pesos to cover expenses for the San Miguel fair to be held in September. In addition, city bus fares will increase by one peso, to five pesos, effective in approximately 15 days. No exact date for the increase was announced.

On June 27, Eduardo Soria, municipal treasurer, Rolando Gutiérrez, assistant to the city secretary, Veronica Agundis, head of the Education and Culture Department (Dirección de Educación y Cultura) and Luis Francisco López, head of Municipal Public Services (Servicios Públicos Municipales) announced that the local government and the citizens’ council formed by Eleazar Romero, a lawyer and former PRI candidate for mayor, Marisol Vidargas, head of the traditionalist citizen group of San Miguel and Gonzalo Almanza, a sculptor of religious icons, have begun to organize the festivities for the San Miguel Arcángel and the San Miguel fair.

According to Agundis, two million of the five million pesos authorized by the city council for the fair will go towards the traditional religious festivities of San Miguel Arcángel, which takes place the last weekend of September.

Expenses include fireworks, dancers, decorations, transportation and food. The other three million pesos will be invested in the fair, to be held September 18 to October 6. Entrance to the fair will be 25 pesos, and according to López all interested San Miguel vendors will be invited to sell their goods at the fair. He did not state the cost, size or number of stands available. Gutiérrez, supervisor of coordination of shows at Teatro del Pueblo, said that many famous artists will be invited to perform, but he did not mention any specific names. Soria added that part of the three million pesos will be used to pay for carnival rides and performers at the Teatro del Pueblo, among other expenses.

Va por San Miguel meeting

Va por San Miguel de Allende welcomes those interested in the protection and preservation of the city’s cultural and natural patrimony to the next meeting, Tuesday, July 8, 7pm, El Sindicato, Recreo 4, centro.

Fire fighters face emergency
By Suzanne Ludekens

Presentations
Bomberos for kids
Sat, July 5, 10am–1pm
History of the fire department
José Sanchez
Wed, July 22
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25

Fire Department 152-2888
Emergency 068
Donations: Banorte account number: 81 400 5178

The San Miguel fire department (Bomberos) receives a monthly stipend of 33,000 pesos from city hall. Operating costs, for salaried staff, maintenance and spare parts for the trucks and ambulance and equipment, far exceed the stipend. Every year José Sanchez, President of the Fire Department Board, writes 40 to 50 letters to local businesses and individuals seeking financial support to close the widening gap between income and expenses. This year only two individuals responded; their donation was a total of 450 pesos. Sanchez appreciates the donations, yet concern for the future of the department weighs heavily on this man who has dedicated 17 years in Mexico and the US to providing this essential emergency service.

Each year the bomberos attend 1,500 emergencies—urban, rural, residential and commercial fires; floods, explosions and hazardous spills; electrical problems, car accidents, medical emergencies and searches and rescues. Due to increasing temperatures and dryness, the department has extinguished three times as many rural fires this year than in 2007. The incidents are usually caused by lighted cigarettes carelessly thrown from cars or deliberately lit fires that quickly grow out of control.

With old or reconditioned vehicles, equipment in need of replacement and operating expenses on the rise, Sanchez and the Fire Department Board (Patronato) seek sustainable financial support to increase their monthly stipend to 100,000 pesos per month.

Seven paid staff form San Miguel’s fire department, with 50 volunteers who either hold full-time jobs or are full-time students. They have two ambulances and three trucks. Sanchez spends his days attending to the daily problems that arise, mainly searching out spare parts for the trucks and visiting mechanics. “Tires are very expensive. Each one costs 4,000 pesos and they must always be changed in pairs to bear the weight of the trucks,” said Sanchez.

The bomberos also need another new ambulance. “We have two old ambulances, donated from the US, that constantly need spare parts which must be imported,” he said. “They are in constant use, attending emergencies in the campo where Red Cross ambulances cannot reach.” The ambulances are eight and 14 years old and both have run more than 205,000 miles.

Apart from emergency services, the Bomberos also offer educational programs. More than 25 children meet every Saturday at the fire station for the “cadets” program, similar to the Scouts, and volunteers regularly visit primary schools to give security demonstrations to students.

To get the message out to the community, volunteer bomberos will give a special presentation for children at the Biblioteca on Saturday and will collect at the weekly House & Garden Tour. At the Biblioteca on July 22, Sanchez will discuss the history of the fire department in San Miguel with archive photos and stories about the city’s greatest blazes.