Municipal ecology authority confirms wastewater spill in North Beach of Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, (August 27, 2021) .- Hurricane Grace damaged the pipeline of a hotel located in Playa Norte, causing a sewage leak that fell into the sand next to the lodging center in Isla Mujeres. Carlos Barranco, Director of Ecology and Environment in Isla Mujeres confirmed, so the property has already been sanctioned.

According to an employee of the Mía Reef hotel, the dumping began on Thursday 19th, after the meteor hit, and lasted until Monday 23rd, when the pipeline was repaired.

Barranco explained to the media that, due to the location of the lodging center (on the islet of ‘El Yunque’), it is very exposed to the sea, and the strong waves, of more than three meters, caused by the cyclone broke exposed residual pipe.

Carlos Barranco did not specify the economic amount of the sanction. Directors of the establishment did not issue any statement in this regard.

Neither the municipal authority of Isla Mujeres nor those responsible for the hotel reported the amount of wastewater that flowed into the sea; however, some employees estimate that at least 10 liters per second, that is, 3,600 liters per hour and 864 cubic meters (m3) would have been discharged throughout the day.

According to them, during the five days that the leak lasted, almost 4,320 m3 of residual water was dumped into the sea, which affected the corals and some species of scale and lobster, preferred products in this resort.