{"id":166882,"date":"2025-01-10T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=166882"},"modified":"2025-02-20T15:30:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T21:30:54","slug":"polluted-rivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/business-innovation\/polluted-rivers\/","title":{"rendered":"An Innovation to Clean Mexican Rivers (That Aims to be as Accessible as a Smartphone)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over half of Mexico\u2019s surface water \u2014rivers, lakes, streams, and lagoons\u2014 is polluted, and reversing this environmental crisis is no small feat. Economic, political, and social factors complicate restoring these crucial ecosystems. However, researchers are turning to innovative solutions rooted in the circular economy<\/a>, a strategy that seeks to rejuvenate these waters and transform industrial waste into valuable resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2012 and 2018, 58.8% of the 4,202 surface water monitoring sites assessed by Mexico\u2019s National Water Commission through its National Water Quality Measurement Network<\/a> (Renameca, in Spanish) showed varying degrees of contamination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pollution plagues many of the country\u2019s rivers, as industrial and household waste is routinely dumped into them. Some of the most affected are the Lerma Santiago, Atoyac, and Tula rivers. Yet, determining exactly how many others contain harmful compounds remains a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf all the rivers in the country, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a single one that\u2019s completely free of contamination,\u201d says Isaac Chairez<\/a>, a research professor at the Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing (IAMSM)<\/a> at Tec de Monterrey\u2019s Guadalajara campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\r\n \r\n \"\"\r\n <\/picture><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chairez is part of a team of researchers, including Mariel Alfaro<\/a>, also from IAMSM, and Arizbeth P\u00e9rez<\/a> from Universidad de La Salle, alongside undergraduate and graduate students. Together, they\u2019ve developed a project to create advanced oxidation reactors that use waste from the metal casting industry to clean polluted water effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this circular economy approach, waste from one industry becomes the raw material for another, in this case, ensuring clean water for communities.<\/strong> \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is using waste to treat waste,\u201d P\u00e9rez explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n