KEEP TULUM CLEAN
As a member of the Tulum community, we are asking for your support regarding an urgent matter that has the potential to devastate the ecological systems which support the tourism industry and life as we know it on the Mayan Riviera.
A recent viral video showed a Tulum wastewater truck dumping untreated wastewater into the jungle. It was subsequently revealed that three of Tulum’s four sewage treatment plants have been inoperable for a year. An estimated hundred of thousand liters of wastewater are being dumped into the soil everyday. This, along with inadequate and inefficient infrastructure for the fast growing population of Tulum, has caused a severe strain on our resources and environment that will be irreversible if action isn’t urgently taken.
Tulum is situated on the largest underground river system in the world. This underground network is the vascular system of the entire Yucatan peninsula. Ground contamination is absorbed into this system, and carried downstream — to the water in our homes, to the local produce we eat, into our oceans, and even into the air our families breathe.
Furthermore, the Mesoamerican reef that protects the Yucatan peninsula from deadly and devastating weather – the second largest reef in the world – is dying. Because of the ongoing contamination, 40 percent of the reef is no longer alive. If this progresses, unbridled storms could regularly decimate the peninsula, potentially crippling more than 40% of the country’s tourism industry.
If the wastewater dumping continues, it could have a devastating effect on your business, Tulum’s ecosystem and wildlife, and the health of your family.
As a first step to address this critical situation, we are asking business owners, local leaders, and everyday heroes like you to stand with us. We are sending an open letter to Mexico’s President – Andrés Manuel López Obrador – asking him to allocate funds to save Tulum’s ecology and economy. Tulum needs funds to resuscitate its water treatment plants, clean up landfill and the garbage piles in the jungle, and implement a sewage master plan that includes community monitoring and regenerative incentives.
Tulum has given us so much and now it needs our help. Do we count on your support to help us save this magical land? Our intention is to create a community platform of people who love Tulum and want to keep Tulum's ecosystems, communities and businesses healthy and thriving.
English version of the Letter to the President: Google Doc | PDF
Spanish version of the Letter to the President: Google Doc | PDF
Organizations
Please endorse this letter to President Andres Manuel Lopez by clicking the ENDORSE button below.
Community Members
We are developing a Change.org campaign that will be listed her as soon as we have 50 organizations onboarded. Please send this page to businesses, organizations, churches, and community groups in Tulum.