Posted on 05/12/2003 10:59:23 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
ACAPULCO, Mexico – At the height of Mexico's spring tourism season, Caletilla beach welcomed throngs of tourists with a reassuring blue and white sign declaring the water free from pollution, despite media reports to the contrary.
"Clean Ocean. Certified Beach. The waters of this beach are apt for recreational activities," read the sign, which bore the seals of federal agencies like the environmental and health ministries, along with a city government emblem.
The only problem for the thousands of beachgoers splashing in the surf was that the sign was a fake, said federal officials, who began posting warning signs for the first time last month.
In fact, the government had declared Caletilla a "sanitary risk" due to high levels of fecal coliform and other materials that indicate the presence of human waste from the city's 1 million people.
No one on the beach seemed to know the truth.
"Some people said it was really ugly here, but now we see that it's clean," said Guadalupe Osorio, commenting on the "clean ocean" sign. Still, the 42-year-old homemaker from the Mexico City suburbs joked nervously, "If chunks of flesh start falling off my body, then I guess we'll know that it's polluted."
Where the fake sign came from is a mystery and is subject to a federal investigation, given that beach areas belong to the federal government.
Local officials, however, had already posted banners at the entrances to Caletilla declaring it clean and safe in an effort to avoid losing tourists during the holiday.
The Holy Week dispute showed the continuing tug of war between federal officials trying to implement President Vicente Fox's "transparency" campaign and local governments worried about raw economics – and what they say is questionable science.
"The problem here is that there has always been a taboo in Acapulco against talking about this," said Octavio Adolfo Klimek, a federal environmental official based in Acapulco who denounced the "cloned" federal sign. "We are trying to break that taboo."
Threats stop signs
Caletilla and another beach, Tlacopanocha, should have posted red and white signs recommending against swimming, but beach vendors threatened violence, and the signs were never put up, Mr. Klimek said. Acapulco's 14 other beaches were posted with signs declaring them safe for swimming, including those in the main tourist corridors of "Zona Dorada" and "Acapulco Diamante." That should have been applauded as good news, Mr. Klimek said, given the earlier reports that suggested more widespread problems.
But Acapulco Mayor Alberto López Rosas questioned the results and said the city government has better evidence of the sea's cleanliness than a few water samples. He swam in Caletilla and Tlacopanocha, as did Gov. René Juarez, to show the public that the waters off both beaches were safe.
"Results speak far louder than some report," Mr. López said during a recent interview. "We do not have any outbreaks of cholera or dermatitis registered, and those are the principal manifestations of contact with contaminated water."
So, despite the federal report on Caletilla and Tlacopanocha, he said, those beaches are clean and the city government continues to protect the public.
"We are obligated to guarantee the health of our visitors by taking certain measures, but not in a scandalous, shrill and exaggerated manner, as was attempted in this situation," the mayor said.
In general, he said, Acapulco tourism was slightly lower than during last year's Easter break.
Caletilla beach workers said the drop on their chunk of sand was far worse.
María Teresa Díaz Macias, 44, is head of a group of mostly young women who braid hair for tourists to Caletilla, a so-called traditional beach where few foreigners can be found. She said ongoing media reports of ocean pollution had slashed braiding sales in half.
"It's all just political propaganda, and we're the ones who pay the cost," said Ms. Díaz, who posed for a photo next to the fake "clean ocean" sign. "No one has ever become sick swimming here."
Acapulco Tourism Director Roger Joseph Bergeret visited Caletilla on Good Friday and accused the federal government of favoring newer beach resorts that catered to foreigners, such as Cancún and Loreto, over older spots like Acapulco that draw mostly Mexicans.
"Acapulco is suffering from the attacks of the federal government," said Mr. Bergeret. "The pollution levels they say that we have are less than those found on American beaches."
The government's new program to post beaches and create an Internet site on ocean quality grew out of a scandal earlier this year in which the Mexico City newspaper Reforma published a series of federal reports on poor water quality at several beach resorts.
Those reports warned that several Mexican beaches had been fouled by sewage and industrial waste – enraging local officials along the Pacific Coast.
The head of the National Association of Hotels and Motels, Miguel Torruco, called on the federal government to stop releasing data on beach pollution. But Tourism Minister Leticia Navarro defended Mexico's environmental glasnost.
Calming the waters
Once the numbers were out in mid-April, the new federal beach monitoring program and its mostly positive findings did calm the water in some beach communities, Mr. Klimek said.
For example, the resort of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo had just one of 15 beaches declared a "sanitary risk," and federal workers were allowed to post a sign to that effect without any threats from locals.
And overall, Mr. Klimek said, the results of the beach monitoring and water testing program showed that the worst fears about ocean pollution in most resort areas did not pan out. He did warn, however, that water quality varies from week to week depending on runoff from rain and other factors. New numbers should be out in late May.
Nationwide, only 10 of 140 tested beaches, or 7 percent, posed a "sanitary risk" based on water samples taken in March, according to the new National System of Water Quality Information. Most recreational beaches were certified as clean, although a few were posted as just "acceptable" for swimming.
Most major beach resorts, from Los Cabos in the north to Cancún in the south, were given a clean bill of health in the March samples. Those included Mazatlán, Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Escondido and Huatulco.
The port of Veracruz, popular mostly among Mexicans, had two dirty beaches out of 15 tested.
Some of Caletilla beachgoers said they weren't worried about ocean quality, given the more serious environmental problems lurking throughout Mexico.
"I guess if I came here and it was completely deserted, then I would think twice about swimming here," said María Montoya, a 45-year-old homemaker from the industrial state of Mexico, just outside Mexico City. "Still, with all the cars and factories and pollution in the city, it certainly can't be any more polluted than home."
"Put that down honey!!
It's not seaweed!!!"
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