Every rainy season, Santa Maria Aztahuacan becomes the focus of media attention due to severe flooding. Those of us who live here know that it is not just large avenues like Calzada Ignacio Zaragoza or Ermita Iztapalapa that are paralyzed; the water forcefully strikes the heart of our town, critically flooding streets like Felipe Ángeles, 20 de Noviembre, and Ignacio Allende. In these areas, rainwater mixes with overflowing drainage and can exceed a meter and a half in height, causing serious losses to local homes and workshops. Furthermore, after these storms, it is very common to see snakes of impressive sizes and colors surface.
This situation is not simple bad luck with the weather. It is the direct consequence of haphazardly paving over a soil that has a profound memory. Our territory is located right at the descent of the waters flowing from the Sierra de Santa Catarina. With the ground completely covered in asphalt and concrete—and adding problems like cracks, sinkholes, and broken pipes caused by land subsidence—the water simply seeks its ancient natural channels. What floods today are, in reality, the lands that once acted as the regulating basins of the Lagoon of Santa Maria Aztahuacan.
For further context, we share this official report from the DF Environmental and Territorial Planning Office, which conducted a meticulous study considering the region’s ancient lakebeds:
https://paot.org.mx/sasd02/ficheros/acuerdos/ac_pub/2623_RESOL_4472___________.pdf
La Sierra de Santa Catarina, fuente de aguas para las sociedades agrícolas. Hoy nos limitamos a buscar por donde deshacernos de esas aguas que bajan.
The Map of Our Ancient Lagoon
History tells us that the ancient Lagoon of Santa Maria Aztahuacan boasted a beautiful freshwater ecosystem connected to the neighboring Santa Marta Lagoon. With an average depth of 2.5 meters in its deepest areas, it functioned as a massive natural shield or shock absorber: all the water rushing down from the sierra stayed there, preventing inhabited areas from flooding.
The original core of the Lagoon of Santa Maria Aztahuacan was located in what is today the center of the town, extending with impressive vastness toward the ejido lands. Thanks to the valuable oral history testimony of Don Isidoro Flores, we now know that our grandparents called this body of water “La Cieneguilla” or “La Ciénega”. It was such a large, swampy terrain that it reached all the way to where the Territorial Coordination (the 44 Public Ministry agency) stands today. Our grandparents’ uncles constantly had to search for cattle that got stuck in the mud and the wide water channels known as acalotes.
The very heart and dock of this water body was the Ojo de Agua de San Pedro, the exact spot where Zapatista Colonel Don Pedro Cedillo later ordered the construction of the historic Lavaderos de San Pedro (on the corner of Avenida Mexico and San Pedro street, steps from the church). That place was our port: from there, small boats and canoes departed through wide canals loaded with corn and vegetables. Locals navigated the entire Canal de La Viga to bring the town’s production directly to Santa Anita and the markets of downtown Mexico City.
In the Museo del Fuego Nuevo, you can find interactive maps to better visualize the times when strolling through the city meant navigating
A Living Ecosystem that Financed Our History
Fed by clean springs, the ecosystem was full of life: carp, axolotls, frogs, and a huge variety of wild ducks. For generations, local families lived off fishing and seasonal hunting at the Lagoon of Santa Maria Aztahuacan. And of course, we do not forget the emblematic Herons (Garzas). We proudly keep their name as a tribute to what was loved by the town. Because, of course, the locals did not decide to dry up the lake; that was the work of the bald-headed elites of Porfirio Diaz and their spiritual heirs who prefer asphalt over life. (A fond greeting to their mothers.)
An amazing fact linking our past with the present is the origin of one of our greatest monuments. Did you know that our plaza’s Centenary Clock was built thanks to the Lagoon of Santa Maria Aztahuacan? Although the water body was already dying in the early 20th century, the locals organized massive wild duck hunts to sell the birds and, with that money, financed the clock’s construction. (To learn the details of this incredible neighborhood feat, do not miss our dedicated article on the Centenary Clock).
Today, the landscape is entirely different. If you are wondering how we went from a water paradise to today’s paved streets, we invite you to read our post about how the Lagoon of Santa Maria Aztahuacan dried up, where we share the tragic details of this massive change.
| Ecological & Hydrological Parameter | Historical State (Up to Early 20th Century) | Contemporary State (21st Century) |
|---|---|---|
| Active Water Bodies | Lagoon of Santa Maria Aztahuacan, Laguna de Santiago, Ojo de Agua de San Pedro, and navigable acalotes. | Completely desiccated; presence of seasonal flooding in streets and road infrastructure. Sinkholes. |
| System Depth | Variable depth, reaching an average of 2.5 meters in the main regulating basin. | Rainwater puddles and floods ranging from 0.5 to over 1.5 meters in low-lying areas and homes. |
| Endemic & Migratory Fauna | Carp, frogs, axolotls, tadpoles, coots, ring-necked ducks, northern shovelers, and northern pintails. | Local extinction of aquatic species; isolated reports of adapted wildlife (like snakes after the rains) and passing flocks of ducks or herons. |
| Predominant Vegetation | Extensive cattails, water lilies, chichicaztle, water flowers, and dense rows of camphor trees. | Introduced urban plant species; scarce and fragmented vegetation in medians and parks. |
| Transportation Dynamics | Commercial and passenger navigation via canoes and cargo trajineras toward the capital. | Motorized vehicular traffic prone to collapse due to floods and structural sinkhole formation. |
Water has memory, even if humans have very little. Although the lagoon has been drained, the water sources remain and will continue to do so. Will we try to fight it, or negotiate with it?