According to Dr. Todd D. Stong, a U.S. engineer and volunteer advisor to several Lake Chapala government agencies, it is cleaner than many think.

The recently published “Huérfanos de Humano” (Orphans of Man) by animal activist Cinthia Orozco de Gortari is a compilation of true short stories about area street dogs.

Imagine building a two-man canoe out of concrete, launching it in the waters Lake Chapala and successfully keeping it afloat while racing against 15 similar vessels weighing in at 300 to 350 kilograms each.

Recicladora de la Ribera de Chapala (RRC), the privately operated plastic recycling outfit located in Riberas del Pilar, has been forced to close its doors due to financial concerns and practical hurdles in a community that has not fully adopted the concepts of waste separation and reuse.

Instituto Internacional Octavio Paz (IIOP) has become the first lakeside learning institution to qualify for the International Baccalaureate (IB) World School network, with authorization to offer the IB Diploma Programme for the next term within its bilingual or Spanish-only high school level curricula.

Managing garbage is an expensive business for the municipality of Chapala. City hall ecology chief Moctezuma Medina Corona says it costs the government about 17,000 pesos to collect and dispose of 60 tons of refuse – an average of 1.3 kilograms per person –each and every day.