President Peña Nieto opened the valve to activate the newly remodeled El Creston sewage treatment plant.
Dozens of municipal, State and federal dignitaries accompanied by local tourism representatives passed through high security checks to accompany Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at the recently updated Cerro El Creston sewage treatment plant yesterday morning.
Fetid odours from the plant hung heavily in the air as the President spoke before turning the opening valve, saying he should look for another way to inaugurate this type of public works project for “obvious reasons,” referring to the malodorous smell permeating the platform. His comments met with applause from those accompanying him.
The treatment plant went into operation in 1982 as the primary treatment plant in Mazatlán. It was updated in 2001, and again in 2013 as part of an integrated sewage treatment project which included the construction of the Norponiente plant in north Mazatlán and the Urías plant in the southeast.
The construction of the two new treatment plants will reduce the amount of sewage funneled to El Creston which will now become a secondary filter for the municipality.
Speaking to those in attendance, the President directed the director of the National Water Commission to look for ways to ensure sewage plants here and in the rest of the country do not fall into disrepair for lack of budget considerations.
He went on to say he often inaugurates this type of public works project which stop working because the operation costs are not viable or simply because there is not adequate administration, pointing out this is not the case in Culiacán, Mazatlán, or Sinaloa. (from Noroeste)
I was in Mazatlan entering by sailboat 2 weeks ago (early November 2015) into the harbor/bay at the south end of town where the cruise ships and ferry go. As soon as you near the harbor the sea turns green and brown and there is floating trash around the harbor entrance. There is an anchorage just inside the breakwater and some boat repair facilities, worn out marinas and the sewage plant. I don't believe this sewage plant use much outfall (distance it dumps out to sea) and dumps the sewage very near shore without much removal of solids (turbidity). It smells really bad and one day I was almost overwhelmed with the stench when the wind shifted to onshore. The El Faro lighthouse is directly adjacent to the sewage plant and it draws a lot of locals and tourist who climb to the top. The sewage in the sea is very visible as you look around. It is not that the sea is totally brown from the sewage, it floats around in big patches like slow schools of fish. I saw one come into the anchorage and float around the boat for a while. Since the sewage is of a thick consistency it just moves around with the languid currents. I would not swim in the ocean shore along the beautiful malecon here, you might get sick and die!
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