After five days of cleaning works, more than eight tons (17,630 lbs.) of dead fish were removed from the Álvaro Obregón Dam, locally known as ‘El Gallinero‘, this dam impounds water from the Batán river and irrigation canals.
The dam, located 6 kilometers away from Dolores Hidalgo in the community of “El Gallinero“, used to be visited on the weekends by local families and tourists, who picnicked on the shore and fished or paddled there.
“The National Water Commission decided to clean up contaminating material from the “Gallinero” Dam, retiring all organic matter, placing it in a lime ditch and subsequently covering it with soil”; said Felipe Abundes Director of Civil Protection, in charge of the cleaning operation.
He added that this decision was taken in order to avoid possible health risks, and therefore, all the decomposing organic matter (dead fish) was separated from the settlements and buried in a ditch that was prepared specifically for that purpose.
“Now we must wait for the next rains to help us dilute the contaminated water” Abundes concluded.
The drought forced farmers to extract excessive amounts of water from the Alvaro Obregon dam killing thousands of fish.
Source: https://periodicocorreo.com.mx/