Water Studies have shown that in one Mexican town, all of the water sources are contaminated.
SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LAS CASAS, MEXICO — In many schools in this hilly Mexican town, children go without an essential item: water from a clean, safe source.
So children here turn to low-cost sodas and juices, which are available for sale at school.
“The low cost of sugary drinks and poor access to drinking water contribute to greater consumption of these beverages.” People have reason to be wary of the drinking water: According to a recent study, every water distribution point in San Cristóbal de las Casas was found to have fecal contamination.
“We dispose of our feces into the rivers, the rivers get contaminated, they reach the houses – they are the same waters that irrigate the gardens,” says Ane Galdos Balzategui, a water-quality researcher and one of the authors of the microbial-risk study.
The health training center Centro de Capacitación en Ecología y Salud para Campesinos (CCESC), founded by Arana Cedeño, is studying children’s consumption of sugary drinks.
Consumption of so many sugary drinks comes at a cost.
“Sometimes we drink sugary beverages.
When we spend time together, we drink soda,” Córdoba says.
Robles Ramírez says that hydrated children learn more and are less absent from school.