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WATER COOPERATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND POVERTY ERADICATIONImage: Miguel A. CórdovaImage: Roberto Menéndez, IMTAA bicycle adapted as a pedal-powered pump for irrigation purposes in the communityof San Pedro, PátzcuaroThe technified module at the Francisco J. Mújica tree nursery, whichcan produce up to 600,000 plants per yearaccepted for receiving financial aid from the Fund for the Treatmentof Wastewater in Touristic Areas, which will help consolidate theirself-sufficiency. Some of the wetlands (Cucuchucho, Santa Fe de laLaguna and Erongarícuaro, which produce 8 l/s in total) are alsoeligible for this fund.The water utilities of Pátzcuaro, Quiroga, Erongarícuaro andTzintzuntzan have worked on the detection and repairing of leaks,which has resulted in preventing losses of more than 75 l/s in thefour townships. For example, in Quiroga, losses due to leaks havebeen reduced by 25 l/s and water pressure was increased in thenetwork, thus considerably improving drinking water services tothe population. In Pátzcuaro, three of the 10 hydrometric districtswere divided in sectors, and with the partial rehabilitation of the SanGregorio Aqueduct, losses were reduced by 15 l/s. In the four townships,wells were equipped with macrometers and user records wereupdated. These works and the actions deriving from them benefitmore than 70,000 inhabitants, close to 60 per cent of the total populationof the watershed. In addition several studies and actions weremade in order to improve and update water and sanitation rates,which have helped to significantly increase the revenues of waterutilities in Pátzcuaro and Erongarícuaro.Some 24 water springs have been located, rehabilitated andprotected. Three of them were habilitated to be used as drinkingwater supply sources. For example, from the Las Palmas andTzentzénguaro springs, 12 l/s and 10 l/s are channelled to thecommunities of Quiroga and Tzentzénguaro respectively.In order to reduce the problems associated with extreme poverty,the transfer and appropriation of water technologies has beenpromoted. In this regard, 4,749 houses have been adapted withseveral systems for water harvesting, extraction, conduction, storage,purification and consumption. These include rainwater harvestingsystems, pedal-powered pumps, cisterns, solar disinfection systems,biofilters and family orchards equipped with selfoperatingirrigation systems. During this process, theparticipation of indigenous Purépecha women has beencrucial. Thus, the basic water and sanitation requirementsof more than 1,222 rural and indigenous familieshave been covered.In the upper part of the watershed, several projectshave been implemented to support reforestation andcontrol soil erosion. A series of practices have beentransferred and adapted for the conservation of 10priority microwatersheds. Specifically, this includesforest rehabilitation in more than 1,649 hectares. Thishas entailed planting species such as Pinus pseudostrobus,Pinus greggii and Pinus michoacana using bothtraditional excavation methods and drilling machineryin Pátzcuaro, Huiramba, Lagunillas, Erongarícuaro,Tzintzuntzan, Quiroga and Salvador Escalante. Thesurvival rate after the rainy season was over 80 per cent.Reforestation actions were taken along the borders offarms, grasslands and cattle-raising ranches by planting46 km of live fences of white cedar (Cupressuslusitánica). Infiltration ditches and diversion ditcheswere excavated in the townships of Ichupio, Cerritosand Crucero de Chapultepec, thus achieving the infiltrationof 11,352 km 3 of water between 2008 and 2011.In general terms, there are now 56,786 hectares ofnon-eroded land with an adequate forest cover (60.55per cent of tree vegetation/watershed surface area). It isworth noting that in the municipality of Pátzcuaro, atthe Francisco J. Mújica tree nursery, there is a highlytechnifiedmodule with the capacity to produce up to600,000 plants per year.[ 231 ]