Overview

Cathedral in Downtown Mexico City

Mexico City since 1525 has been Mexico's capital and economic center. In its effort to centralize power and the economy in this region has inevitability led to a once rural area to become highly urbanized with millions of people and buildings. Historically the region was home to the Aztec empire which was then turned into the Spanish headquarters in Central America. In 1810 Mexico became an independent nation, however, by 1876 dictator Porfirio Diaz would come to power and instill further plans to urbanize Mexico City and draw global attention to Mexico. Although urbanizing the region of Mexico city was meant as a means to stimulate the economic and create a political hub, it has come at an ecological price that threatens the future of the region. These ecological pressures have formed as a result of urbanization because with the destruction of natural resources to create more space for housing and people has created issues in pollution, overpopulation, and multiple water issues such as floods and yet there is water scarcity because their is a  lack of sewage or waste systems and inefficiency water distribution. One of the major problems that Mexico City is now facing is that the region is SINKING!

Mexico City is roughly around 1,485 km² (573.4 sq mi). Mexico City Just like Washington D.C. in the Untied States, the capital is not located within a state but it is its own province. Located at the southern center of the  country protects it from outside threats since it is surrounded by other Mexican states.  

Before Mexico City Urbanized

Mexico city was once the capital of the Aztec nation which the region was then known as Tenochtitlan, 

"The Place of the Mexicas".

 In the 16th century, Spaniards invaded the Aztec territory to defeat and conquer their land and soon the region grew in population and size. The Spaniards sought to rid the city of all Aztec remnants by building the city in their culture of Spain. However, what many forget about the region in which Mexico City lies is that the Aztecs chose the area because of its defensive capability. 

You can see that the Aztec capital is surrounded by mountains, dry land and a large lake called, Lake Texcoco in the image above. The region has a subtropical highland climate because it has a high elevation and surrounded by mountains. This means that the lower areas receive less rainfall than the higher areas in the south and the west is usually drier and warmer. Since the region is surrounded by mountains this causes air to be trapped within  the region (this will be further explained below).

Lake Texcoco has a system of interconnect saline and freshwater lakes in which the Aztecs used for their advantage by creating dikes to separate the different water types so that they could use fresh water to raise crops while preventing floods. These dikes, however, were destroyed in the conquest of the Aztec nation and now these what's left of the lake can be seen outside of downtown Mexico City.

Mexico City Today

Ecological Issues: Pollution

Pollution is one of the major ecological problems that occurs within the region.  Many automobiles were then imported into Mexico City and soon the city was flourishing with business and an evergrowing population. With the economic success of this city came many environmental costs; one of the issues that corresponded with industry in Mexico City was pollution. As stated previously, Mexico City is surrounded by mountains and is located in a low elevation region. These mountains and low elevation included with low winds cause Mexico City is trap in smoke and pollutants that go into the air from factories, automobiles and homes. The air then becomes thick because of all the pollutants that usually disperse with wind, however, the wind rebounds from the mountains and the air then goes back from where it started. This causes pollution. Mexico City wanted to continue growing rapidly so plans to deal with pollution were never made until recent years. Policies such as "A day without a Car" are enforced so that once a week a family cannot use their car to decrease CO2 emissions.  Many of the citizens of the region felt the effect of pollution because reports of people with asthma increase ever year.


 Mexico City's pollution level was 97.5, compared to 4.5 for New York City, and 2.5 for Milan, Turin, and Los Angeles.

What Can be Done?

The problems that Mexico City faces have been the same that the region has had since the time of the Aztecs, however, most of these issues have been exacerbated due to the quick rise of urbanization in the region. To make the lake region livable, leaders had to drain Lake Texcoco so that people could build within and expand there growth. This began in the Aztec period when they first decided to make the area their central hub, it occurred some more when the Spanish conquistadors made it its central base in the Americas and the lake were finally gone with the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz who sought to make Mexico an international location to attract the Olympics and other international events to be hosted in Mexico. With the drainage came the floods for water no longer had anywhere to go but in the lower basins which is were the city was located and so you see many homes, buildings, and people become victims of flood. Floods were also an reoccurring event the Aztec and Spanish period. When Lake Texcoco became the center oft he Aztec nation, people swarmed to the region to be apart of something big for the region was a source of food, energy and power, Urbanization further attracted people to Mexico City which now faces overpopulation due to the high density levels in the area. Pollution is one of the recent issues that has occurred in he last centuries where urbanization is the main attribute at fault. Industrialization meant business and prosperity for the region and Mexico to profit from for there has not been a greater boom in the Mexican economy than industry. Nonetheless, with the rise of factories and new technology such as automobiles and gasoline, the city soon was affected by the horrible air which when taken in over a duration of time cause asthma and other lung problems. So what can be done to fix these issues?


•Build a well-made water system




•Create dikes and dams to control the water to decrease waste




•Use efficient energy technology such as solar and wind panels




•Instill local and national laws to create low emission automobiles




•Promote walking and bicycles as a means of transportation

Mexico needs these fixes because without a well-made water system, there are water shortages and people could become unhealthy from lack of water. I believe dikes and dams can become a problem for the ecosystem of the city, however, the city is in need of this technology for the ecosystem has already been damaged and the people could benefit from not worrying about water supply and contaminated waters. Mexico City needs to use the resources that it has left like the sun and the wind for with solar and wind panels, Mexico can be environmentally friendly while acquiring energy for their city. Walking and bicycles need to be promoted to get people from not using their cars so that pollution is controlled.

Over the decades, the Mexican government and people have usually ignored these issues because to fix, especially their water issues, the issues would be costly and the government has been plagued by corruption and incompetence for such a long time that most of the issues have not been addressed until recently.

There have been people, not government, who have in recent years developed plans to recover the lakes of the city, meaning they want to create man made lakes so that they can supply water from natural sources to Mexico City and other areas. They also want to improve air quality by implementing new actions to decrease CO2 in the air and establish population planning. This project is called "Recovering the City of the Lakes" which has not been approved as of yet by the government so these plans have not commenced.
The government, however, has instilled some federal and local plans to deal with pollution by monitoring and reporting environmental conditions constantly. These monitorings include ozone and nitrogen oxides levels so when either level gets too high some factories are closed, school hours changed, and the usual one day of the week without a car becomes two days. Pollution has decreased due to these initiatives and to strict biannual vehicle emission inspection, the Mexican owned gasoline stattions known as PEMEX has also reformulated gasoline and diesel fuels.

Water issues are usually dealt on a national scale in Mexico for it is the responsibility of the President and his or her party to regulate the use of water resources because they contribute to the financing of investments and the supply of water to regions. Locally, the governor and their party of Mexico City is in charge of water  being treated for contaminants while also directing municipalities of their water distribution and sanitation to the city. Irrigation and water waste  for Mexico City come from two irrigation districts in the nearby state of Hidalgo. Although there is a system exists to maintain all these factors of water, corruption and waste of water occurs along the way to Mexico City because the system is not fully functional. Instead of water being exported from Mexico City to other regions water is imported because there are no efficient sewage and containment mechanism for water in the city.

Although the government has made some efforts in fixing the city's problems, at most times they start projects that never finish or promise projects that never begin. The status of the protected area is ugly because the government is not willing to fully invest in projects that desperately need to be done such as make a effective water distributions system and no real actions to protect the resources that they do still have which are being depleted exponentially. If this same government attitude continues then the future of the ecosystem found in Mexico City will become worst. As it is people in the present deal with water shortages and flooding on a reoccurring timeline that makes living conditions in Mexico City not so pleasant. Complete devastation in flooding could occur that would drive people out of the city or to many of the citizens dying from natural disasters like flooding the the earth cracks which are happening more. If these issues are not fixed, the government itself could become endanger for the city is the symbol and physical centralization of power so if the federal buildings and their leaders become affected by these issues through death or health then the government and stability of the entire nation is in danger. Earth cracks with the sinking of the city and flooding could both cause the government to shut down. So what are local problems of a city can drastically effect the nation itself. Mexico City has taken some steps to fix overpopulation and pollution, however, it need to focus on improving water related issues in the region and nation for they are the ones that need desperate assistance for if left unfixed the city and its government and nation could all fall from it, literally through earth cracks.