Construction Crews Fill in Black Lagoon

(Acapulco, AN 9 December) In disregard of environmental preservation, highway construction workers have dumped waste and rubble into about 90 square meters (almost 1,000 square feet) of the Black Lagoon at Puerto Marqués. The Black Lagoon was a large mangrove swamp that provided habitat for several protected species of tropical wildlife. Over the years construction has encroached upon this natural resource to the point that very little remains. The construction of the elevated roadway from Puerto Marqués to El Cayaco and its intersection with the Bulevar Las Naciones is quietly and rapidly putting an end to any remnants of the Black Lagoon still visible from the main road.

The project, supervised by the State Highway Department, has already run into a number of problems: first, workers cut a 48” water main that supplied over half of Acapulco’s water; then traffic jams at the construction site have extended commutes for some locals by 2 to 4 hours per day.

An arm of the lagoon extends between the Diamante Lakes condominium and a marble workshop, crossing under the Bulevar Las Naciones. A bridge was built over this eddy to preserve it, but that is where the construction crews have dumped the rubble, cutting off water flow some 150 meters short of arriving at the rest of the lagoon.

Filling in the lagoon at the construction site was not an act of negligence or indifference: after dumping the rubble in the water, construction crews converted it into a landfill, using backhoes. This eddy was the only portion of the Black Lagoon visible from the highway that goes to the airport, as the rest had already been covered over by other construction projects; however, in 2007, authorities rejected the proposed construction of a building for the Mexican Open tennis tournament at that location because the Black Lagoon was considered a protected and endangered natural site.