Water pollution, a latent problem in the Yucatan Peninsula, has been the subject of various investigations and alerts by experts from different research centers, organized civil society, and the federal government itself, through the National Commission of Water (Conagua).
Given this panorama, the Yucatán Scientific Research Center (CICY) has presented an innovative proposal to address this problem.
Dr. Elda Isaura España Gamboa, academic technician at the CICY, recalled that one of the main problems that exists in the entity is the discharge of domestic wastewater into the aquifer since the vast majority of houses in the region do not have treatment plants, but rather they have septic tanks or sinks, elements that end in the karst soil.
“It is increasingly difficult to have quality water to be made drinkable; before we could find good quality water 20 meters deep, but now we have to dig 40-meter wells to find it,” she indicated.
Based on this problem, the CICY developed a wastewater treatment system that can be used in each of the entity’s homes based on a technology called microbial combustion cells, in which the same microorganisms found in the water Wastewater are responsible for eliminating contaminants and thus preventing the most dangerous elements from ending up in the state’s aquifer.
He explained that, during the process, the technology promoted by the CICY, microbial combustion cells, is also capable of generating electrical energy, although not enough to light a light bulb, if it is capable of making this system work efficiently, necessarily making it self-sustaining.
He explained that this system works similarly to how a biodigester operates, but its application would be focused on being completely domestic, so cleaning is simple, and he also assured that it has a competitive price.
He indicated that his intentions at this time are to reach either potential investors or even the state government authorities to be able to market the system, make it reach more places, and thereby reduce costs, since now it is similar to a biodigester for a home costs about 16 thousand pesos.
He explained that the goal is to reach precisely the business community, but above all the decision-makers, since in 2021, the law created a special section for those areas with karst soil, a particular characteristic of the region to which Yucatán belongs. He said that the regulations are very strict so they are looking for facilities to be able to implement this system and finally make it useful in the entity’s homes. At the moment a prototype has already been tested in homes, he assured that the same has been done in the entity, but also the capital of the country, with its pertinent monitoring, with the support of laboratories specialized in the subject.
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