Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Playa del Carmen’s cenotes are at risk of contamination and declining water quality because the area lacks properly functioning wastewater treatment plants and household drainage connections, activist Elías Siebenborn warned.
Siebenborn said the region’s fragile karst soil makes it especially vulnerable to pollutants, and noted that not all neighborhoods are connected to the municipal sanitary sewer network.
Speaking around International Cave and Karst Day, he called on authorities and residents alike to raise awareness about the protection, study and sustainable management of karst formations and caves.
During a visit to a cave known as La Cueva Papalote, located in the fourth park of the Villas del Sol subdivision, observers noted the presence of a variety of animal species.
Fellow activist Roger de la Mora said “irregular” human settlements that lack infrastructure discharge fecal waste into the caves, which contaminates the aquifer. That pollution does not stay underground, he added — it travels toward the sea, where it ultimately damages coral reefs.
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