With the start of the tropical cyclone season, residents of San Luis Potosí have expressed their concern about the state of the dams in the metropolitan area for collecting water. One of them is the San José dam, which is currently infested with water lily plants.
In interview for EL UNIVERSAL San Luis PotosíDr. Oscar Guadalupe Almanza Tovar, member of the Division of Applied Geosciences of the Potosino Institute for Scientific and Technological Research (IPICYT), pointed out that although the water storage capacity of the dam would be the same with or without the lily, which The presence of this plant affects the quality of the water.
“Even if there is no rain, the point would be that this type of water lily present. Regardless of the condition, because one of the effects that also precedes it is that it takes away oxygenation from the water and makes it a little more difficult to treat,” he explained.
He pointed out that the easiest way to extract the water lily through physical methods is when the prey has more water, because when it is at lower levels, the plants become more rooted in the ground.
However, he indicated that, even if the lily is removed, the seeds remain in this space, so it will continue to sprout, and different processes are necessary to remove this pest.
“Two factors come together in San José: the lily, which is, let’s say, a phenomenon of recent years, but also the presence of silting already in the dam, because it is already old and has a useful life span, that in theory we have already surpassed it, but some clearings have been done historically, not of high magnitude, but work has been done on them and that is what we are still there with,” commented the expert.
