Leakage of wastewater from an above-ground sewage collection tank located on the beach a short distance east of the Ajijic pier was detected on the morning of Saturday, May 18.
Spillage from the same tank has occurred on many previous occasions, frequently caused by blockages in sewage pipes that are laid underground close to the waterfront.
The system that feeds to the wastewater treatment plant in San Antonio Tlayacapan is positioned to span the town at the lowest point of gravity.
Although the local sewage infrastructure is technically the property of Jalisco’s Water Commission, staff members from Chapala’s Simapa water and sewage agency were dispatched to carry out repairs to the leaky tank. These were completed before 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.
In November 2022, this newspaper reported on raw sewage gushing out of manholes at various points parallel to the Ajijic waterfront.
At that time, a Simapa crew spent days trying to unclog the pipes obstructed with earth and debris with industrial rotor probes and vacuum tankers employed to extract sewer system sludge, to no avail. That left no option other than digging deep down into the trouble spot located in the vicinity of the Malecón basketball court, where lengths of aging clay pipes had ruptured.