Foam covers the Santiago River in Juanacatlan
Reuters

Santiago has been recognized by the officials of Mexico for its massive pollution for so many years. Miguel Angel Lopez Rocha, an 8-year-old boy, plunged into the stream in Santiago in the year 2008. He managed to make it out of the tributary but ended up having seizures and was vomiting the same day.

According to the National Human Rights Commission, he passed away a few days later due to arsenic poisoning he got from the stream.

The issue of the pollution of the river was acknowledged after Rocha's death and the state decided to request a study on it. The report of the Mexican Institute for Water Technology in 2011, discovered that the stream was highly polluted and had a high amount of chemicals such as arsenic, cyanide, nickel, lead, mercury, and cadmium.

After two years, the representatives, who established an agreement under the first North American trade agreement, examined Santiago's pollution and its neighboring Lake Chapala at the demand of their local communities. The investigation discovered that there was a failure in monitoring and implementation including the suspected proof of implementing an ecological restoration plan created for the region.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, a trade deal, did not have the room for any sanctions.

Jalisco, jointly with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, investigated the river in 2017 again. They discovered that the condition of it is "critical" as there are recurring violations of the permitted limits for there are still high levels of pollutants.

Enrique Alfaro, the state governor, considers Santiago River as one of the most embarrassing and disastrous stories that their state, and Mexico, have.

He visited the bridge over the waterfall, known to be a symbol of the pollution of the river, after taking a position a year ago and pledged to address the issue even though with limited power and resources.

The regulations of Mexico are out-of-date and are full of holes.

The environmental regulations have been improved by Mexico and decided to establish new national agencies following the original 1994 Nafta's act on putting their careless standards to light.

Unfortunately, that movement immediately vanished as Mexico put their attention to attracting investments. After 25 years, the overall of the ordinances of Mexico permits the factories in discharging several impurities and contaminants into the water and the air more compared to the United States.

The regulation does not include the limitations on how many factories are permitted to discharge any contaminants to their streams. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's past water expert and the person who analyzed the regulations of Mexico, Elizabeth Southerland, few organic chemical pesticides and several heavy metals are not included in the regulations too.

Southerland also added that the limited rules are entirely not enough to preserve aquatic life and human health.

The representatives who are managing the implementation of the law do not have enough resources and are not supported by the government that they could not fit in anymore to Mexico's growing industry and population. They have proposed a revision to limit the wastewater but they postponed it. Luis Esparza, an environmental lawyer, and the officials from Conagua said that it was hindered by the advancing from the industry.

According to Cindy McCulligh, an expert in the environmental field at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas and the person who examines the pollution in Santiago, the law is established to make pollution a normal thing to do so that they could legally provide the people the seal of approval. She also added that because of that there would be a complete lack of tests and would lead to an environment full of exemptions.

Alfaro has requested help from the federal officials but they told him that there won't be any budget for that since their budget for the environment has reduced by over a half five years ago.