The harsh life of a diver in the sewers of the city of Mexico

In a metropolis like Mexico City, with 20 million inhabitants to produce waste every minute, it is imperative that there is the figure of the diver from the sewers, someone who, preemptively, unclutter manually waste-often unexpected-preventing the water from flowing, accelerating a job, done by a machine, it would take 15 days.

One of those divers is Julius Caesar, interviewed yesterday by the AFP news agency about the work for 30 years. "We think everything you can imagine, from cellophane bags until parts of cars," stresses the diver.

Dressed in a suit, Julius Caesar himself works surrounded by rats, feces and condoms, a day-to-day hard but indispensable for this megacity, which produces 12,700 tons of waste per day, continues to work at all.

"The smell is unpleasant, but that's all. Get used, "advances. "When we came in, with 10 inches the have visibility is nil." The heavy, dirty water features, the diver does not use oxygen tank, breathing through an umbilical cord attached to the outside.

Julius Caesar is monitored from outside, by three colleagues, communicating through a system of microphones and headphones installed in his Diving Bell.

Work of risks

As you would expect, this job is not for everyone and is full of risks. "A drop of water that we get to play is right infection", stresses. Then there are the syringes, glass or nails that run through the contaminated water of the city of Mexico, and which are a great risk to their health.

The Mexican says its great motivation is the "thrill of never knowing what I can find down there", but this will be a profession, fortunately, facing extinction. According to Sergio Palacios Mayorga, a researcher at the Institute of Geology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), this function will reduce as the population "learn how to recycle your trash and not to let him on the street", since this will stop the drainage network.

This, Mexico City is a time bomb, uniting a population that does not recycle or puts the trash in the rivers and streets, causing floods, an unusual number of people dwell in the same venue: 20 million. Mexico City is the third metropolis in the world, after Tokyo and New Delhi.

When, in Green Savers, we report stories like those of Julius Caesar, we realize how we evolved, in Portugal, regarding waste separation, recycling and environmental education. Although, of course, there is still plenty of room for progress and innovate.

If You Enjoyed This, Take 5 Seconds To Share It

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• StumbleUpon
• Digg
• Delicious
• LinkedIn
• Reddit
• Technorati