Thursday, July 17, 2025

Extraordinary Environmental Contingency activated in Mexico City

Air pollution in Mexico City worsened overnight, triggering an emergency alert.

The Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis (Came) issued an Extraordinary Environmental Contingency for the Mexico City metropolitan area after measuring extremely high levels of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter — at different points around the city in the early hours of the morning.

The commission warned the public to avoid outdoor activities.

The city’s Imeca index, which measures air quality, reached 158 at 5:00am at the Nezahualcóyotl Metro station, up from 144 yesterday evening. An environmental contingency is declared when the index reaches 151.

The municipality of Nezahualcóyotl often suffers from the poorest air quality in the region because of its location at the lowest point of the Valley of Mexico’s dried lake beds.

At least 23 fires were reported in Mexico City yesterday, affecting nearly all of the capital’s 16 boroughs and contributing to poor air quality.

To avoid possible respiratory ailments, the commission recommended that residents remain indoors with windows and doors shut, and avoid intense exercise or other outdoor recreational activities.

The environmental commission also warned against smoking and cooking over an open fire and urged that drivers restrict vehicle use.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
The achoque is a critically endangered salamander that’s the cousin of the famous axolotl.

Lake Pátzcuaro’s fishermen answer call to rescue the achoque, the axolotl’s endangered cousin

1
Fishermen in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, have teamed up with local scientists to raise achoque hatchlings and re-release them into the lake in an effort to stabilize their declining population.
men working in seaweed off the coast

Despite heroic clean-up efforts, sargassum keeps accumulating on Quintana Roo’s coast

2
A stunning indication of the current crisis — as well as of the locals' heroism — took place in Isla Mujeres, where between Sunday night and Monday morning, 140 tonnes of the algae came ashore.
water in the Cutzamala System

Cutzamala System recovers to 56% capacity after historic rainfall in central Mexico

0
The Cutzamala System, which supplies water to the greater Mexico City area, currently has 27.6% more water than it did at this point in 2024.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity