The low level of Lake Chapala due to the drought is taken advantage of by some owners of properties on the shore to invade the federal zone and gain public land for private purposes.
On Sunday night, residents of the Ajijic delegation, Municipality of Chapala, captured heavy machinery entering the federal zone to the reflecting pool to build a private dock, even though it involves filling and invading the lake.
This is a work carried out on the extension of Calle San Jorge, in the Colonia Riberas del Pilar, which carries out the work mainly at night.
“It is a shameless landfill in Riberas del Pilar. This invasion, this intention to gain ground on the lake now that it has gone lower, is in the territory of Chapala. We are defenseless against everything that is happening because the National Water Commission (Conagua) does nothing,” lamented one of the witnesses, who requested anonymity.
The invasion of the riverbank is of such magnitude that 50 percent of the federal zone within the Municipality of Chapala is affected, according to Mayor Alejandro Aguirre Curiel.
Given this, affected neighbors and activists have held protests even at the Conagua offices in Mexico City to denounce this situation. They have also filed formal complaints, but the response has been that it requires, in addition to the exact location, names and information of those reported.
Although the complainants have compiled a folder with information and photographs of the invasions, which they have delivered to both the Municipality of Chapala and Conagua, there have been no closures or measures such as demolition to free the federal zone, which corresponds to the lake ecosystem.
The lake is currently at 48 percent capacity, the lowest it has been in the last five years.
Source: Mural
