Cleaning Up Playa del Carmen’s Hidden Cenotes

Playa del Carmen — Volunteers from the Urban Cenotes Collective, in collaboration with personnel from the Secretary of Sustainable Environment and Climate Change and the 3 Gaia group of Scouts, convened at the Parque de la Madre Naturaleza in the Bosque Real neighborhood to undertake the "redignification" of the urban body of water located within the park.

Before commencing the cleanup, the group held a talk about the work carried out by the Urban Cenotes Collective and the importance of knowing, preserving, and caring for these spaces, which hold the water that sustains life in the region, utilizing citizen science.

At first glance, the space appeared clean. However, to the puzzled looks of the volunteers, they donned waterproof suits and ventured into the depths of the cave. Everyone was surprised to see the enormous amount of trash that had already accumulated there.

Simultaneously, in a hole they had recently observed opposite the main entrance to the cenote, volunteers from the "spaguetti" team entered and discovered two more chambers, a complete skeleton of a possible coati, and the continuation of the water flow from the main pool. Unfortunately, they also found a significant amount of trash.

With more than twenty pairs of hands, they removed everything they could from the bottom of the cave, which was buried under sediment in the deep water and from the newly explored chambers, collecting nearly 80 kg of waste. They also collected water for laboratory work and conducted on-site analyses for E. coli and fecal coliforms.

They concluded the workday feeling highly motivated and with major ideas for continuing to care for this cave, such as installing chicken wire in an area to prevent solid waste from accumulating on the bottom again. However, contamination from irregular wastewater discharges into the water continues, so they will keep pressuring the competent authorities to investigate the source and put an end to it.