Humberto Vargas Muñoz, director of SEAPAL Vallarta, reported Thursday that yesterday, on the first day of the work, employees of the manager in charge of Operations, Oscar Rodriguez Castellon, collected over 60 tons of waste near the water treatment plant and the North II Cuale.

Our goal is to join the efforts of the national campaign promoted by TV Azteca for next Sunday.

“The important thing is that we take a first step in an ongoing and systematic effort to secure control of the radial well that is located at the confluence of the rivers and Ameca, as well as water treatment plants of the Cuale. These are our main sources of the drinking water supplied to hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists of Puerto Vallarta. With little effort or resources we can keep them as clean as possible and thereby maintain the excellent quality standard achieved for the drinking water supplies provided by SEAPAL. I can proudly say that we are offering Vallarta and visitors, drinking water in quantity and excellent quality, and with sewage growing everyday, an excellent treatment of waste water … we will do what is necessary for this to continue,” he said.

EFFORT CONTINUES UNTIL SUNDAY

The Operation Manager said yesterday that Thursday, with the full support of the Single Union SEAPAL Vallarta, led by Martín Hernández and Antonio Rangel, clean-up work began with field staff using backhoe excavators, trucks, and hand machetes, and the channel was cleared near the waste effluent treatment plant of the North II, and the river Ameca upstream of the Radial del Pozo facility.

Refrigerators, stoves, microwave ovens, computer cabinets, bicycle tires, cars and trucks, buckets, plastic and glass bottles, debris, dead trees and weeds …, more than 60 tons of waste … was collected from the banks of the river between the mouth and the water treatment plants.

Field staff responsible for the verification of meters, checking leakage, distributing receipts and other work outside offices, carried in their vehicles plastic bags to collect garbage on their way through the streets of the town.

Friday, this work will continue, and be joined for at least two hours in the morning by the efforts of employees who will rid streets of rubbish near all the SEAPAL offices in the municipality, from the central Avenida Francisco Villa, to Las Palmas, through Pitillal, Ixtapa, Aram, and so on.

On Saturday and Sunday, each of over 500 employees of SEAPAL and their families with put the “finishing touch” on the cleaning campaign by clearing trash from their own homes, streets and communities.

Leaders of the new group’s efforts are Greta Fuentes, Tatiana Meneses, Carole Oury and Mercedes Sanchez among others. Texan, Joe “King” Carrasco of “Nuevo Wavo” musical fame is lending his group to bring Tex-Mex and reggae flavor to the day and promises a great group of local musical talents to keep the party thinking green till sunset.

The focus of the day is information and ecological awareness. We all know that sometimes all it takes is a bit of friendly chit-chat among friends and neighbors to discover common concerns and find solutions to address them.

Vallarta Verde is designed to build public interest in exploring new ways to preserve what very few green spaces we have left in downtown Vallarta.

Important among these areas is the eastern end of the Isla Rio Cuale whose development into another commercial corridor has been envisioned. The Isla is still a micro-nature preserve for iguanas, squirrels and an amazing numbers of birds.

And, more importantly, it’s a cool respite on a hot day; it’s a shady outdoor classroom for kids during the summer months and remains a small verdant microcosm in the Cuale. Why not label those many varieties of trees; have a plant and animal map. John Huston would find himself right at home in his director’s chair among all the activity.

The Isla effort will go together with public education through the press, in schools and in city-wide presentations to encourage ecologically sound waste management along with water and other natural resource conservation.

Carole Oury, friend, Joe King Carrasco, Barbara Sands, Tatiana Meneses and Greta Fuentes, who is spearheading the group. FYI, Vallarta Verde meetings are being held at Cuizas on the Isla on Tuesdays at 3 pm.

New development is moving so quickly all over Vallarta with concrete fortresses rising everywhere without warning. Development certainly should not be confused with progress and isn’t always the best answer for Vallarta.

We can’t forget what put PV on the map besides the torrid Taylor-Burton affair. It is its very Mexican-ness, its leisurely style of living, its red clay tile roofs and feeling of a city with a proud heritage.

All those who have been championing the preservation of our beautiful city’s native charms can applaud these new faces picking up the challenge and bringing in new troops to carry on the battle to preserve our beautiful surroundings, our trees and the city’s charm.

From the southbound bridge, Cuiza is located down the stairs and toward the ocean. From the Malecon, access is down the stairs and straight ahead to Cuiza on the right past Oscar’s.

For more information or to offer assistance, contact Greta Fuentes: zuckyinc(at)yahoo.com; Mercedes Sanchez: aisforartist1@hotmail.com; Carole Oury: carolepvr(at)yahoo.com; Tatiana Meyeses: llomera(at)gmail.com or Barbara Sands: barbsands007(at)yahoo.com. Musicians or singers (dancers?) DJs or MCs who want to be part of the action can contact Joe King at joeking(at)joeking.com.

from an article submitted by Barbara Sands