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A new day dawns in sleepy Loreto
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20051228-9999-1n28...
Big development plans in Baja town are raising many questions
By Sandra Dibble
December 28, 2005
LORETO, Mexico ? With its rugged mountains, uninhabited islands and vast marine park, this seaside town of 15,000 people offers some of the most
dramatic scenery on Baja California ? above water and below. Yet for years, tourists and developers have largely overlooked Loreto and headed to the
peninsula's booming southern end.
Now slow-paced Loreto has been discovered. Flocks of U.S. and Canadian tourists fly down to inspect their future vacation homes. Workers from Mexico's
interior arrive in search of jobs. Mexican government planners envision a rapidly increasing population, and academics on both sides of the border
question the implications of such growth.
A fierce debate flares over the future of Loreto, located on the Gulf of California and in a desert region with scarce water resources and few job
opportunities. The debate is likely to spread as stretches of sparsely populated coastline that were long off-limits to development are increasingly
up for sale.
"The things that are going on in Loreto are the same that are going up and down Baja California," said Robert Faris, a development economist from
Harvard University who has studied the town. "The demand for housing by North Americans is going to set off a remarkable change in land-use practices
in Baja."
In Loreto, many questions loom: Is there enough water to support large-scale growth? How can Loreto grow without destroying its most precious
resources ? the wealth of its sea life, its rich cultural and historic legacy, the small-town tranquillity? Who should benefit from growth?
Loreto's residents still wake up to crowing roosters and barking dogs. Afternoon winds blowing in from Loreto Bay rustle through palm trees, and on
Saturday nights, couples and young families promenade up and down the small sea wall, or malec?n. But for many here, sweeping vistas and sleepy charms
go only so far.
"Loreto is a small town, very pretty, the prettiest in Baja California Sur," said Mayor Rodolfo Davis. "But today, if somebody has a heart problem,
they have to pay a fortune to fly to La Paz. Those who can't afford it take a four-hour ambulance ride, and some end up dying before they've gone 100
kilometers."
The future of a community this size rarely resonates much beyond its boundaries, but Loreto's potential as a major tourist destination has brought
some unusual attention. Civic and business groups such as Loreto 2025, the Loreto Hotel Owners Association and the Grupo Ecologista Antares are
increasingly speaking out as the city government prepares to make some key decisions on the town's future.
The issues have come into sharp focus as Loreto for the first time considers a master plan regulating growth. Since it was incorporated in 1991, the
town has not had a such plan or the resources to pay for one. Fonatur, Mexico's tourism development agency, stepped in, hiring a consultant to write a
plan that by 2025 envisions 13,000 rooms ? in hotels, time-shares, condominiums and condo-hotels ? and 126,000 full-time residents.
"This would be huge growth," said Paul Ganster, head of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at San Diego State University. The plan
"looks very much like Cancun or Los Cabos, which strings out development along the coast."
Victor Castorena, an economist and Loreto native in charge of an advisory committee evaluating the Fonatur-sponsored plan, is a staunch supporter of
growth.
"Loreto needs to grow, Mexico needs to grow," he said. "Young people from Loreto leave to study, and they don't come back because there are no jobs."
The committee's final recommendation is expected early next year, but the final decision will be taken by the city council.
To the north, along the U.S. border, the coastal corridor between Tijuana and Ensenada is booming with developments aimed at U.S. tourists. About 300
miles south of Loreto, at Los Cabos, upscale resorts have brought unprecedented economic growth ? but also strings of unplanned shantytowns.
By contrast, Loreto has been relatively untouched, and one common explanation is that the region's typically grayish, rocky beaches cannot compete
with Los Cabos' broad stretches of soft white sand. Loreto's appeal in recent years has been more for sport fishermen, divers and snorkelers and
eco-tourists drawn by the Loreto Bay National Park, the largest marine protected area in Mexico.
Some would just as soon keep it that way. Among them Rodolfo Palacios, a diver who runs Loreto's Budget Rent-a-Car agency. He moved here from Los
Cabos 14 years ago.
"We're all friends, we all know each other, we know our friends' children, that's what I love about Loreto," said Palacios, a member of Loreto 2025,
which is seeking to cap growth at 60,000 people. "Tourists and locals share the same beaches. You don't have the servility that you see in Cabo San
Lucas, that the beaches are for tourists and no one else."
Magnet for Americans
The catalyst for change has been the arrival three years ago of an Arizona-based developer who is planning 6,000 homes, the Villages of Loreto Bay,
south of town in the community of Nopol?. The market base is made up primarily of U.S. and Canadian tourists interested in purchasing second homes.
More than 500 have bought, and the units are under construction. Those not ready to live here full time can place their units in a rental pool managed
by the developer.
As elsewhere on the peninsula, a major issue in Loreto is water. The last study by Mexico's National Water Commission is almost 20 years old, and new
numbers won't be available until the commission undertakes a study next year.
But even with water conservation and steps to channel more rainfall into aquifers, "we are very aware that this quantity of water is not enough for
125,000 residents," said Roberto Senci?n, an official in the water commission's groundwater division in Mexico City. "Desalination will have to be the
next option."
A study commissioned by the San Diego-based International Community Foundation echoes that assessment, stating that desalination is "the only apparent
option" if the town is to grow beyond 30,000 people.
But desalination could lead to "potential damage to marine ecosystems," and requires large investments in electric power. The potential for power
failures make desalination a risky primary source of water, said Thomas Maddock, a hydrologist from the University of Arizona who looked at Loreto's
water supply as part of the study.
Released last month, the $321,000 Loreto Alternative Futures Study also considers social and economic questions. The study looks at 25 alternative
futures for Loreto, examining five population growth scenarios ? from 30,000 to 240,000 by 2025 under five different planning approaches. The report's
authors include scholars from Harvard, University of Arizona, SDSU and the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur.
The study "forces people in a community like Loreto to start asking tough questions about water today, before they run out," said foundation president
Richard Kiy. "What plays out in Loreto is going to be the tip of the iceberg."
Founded in 1697 as a Jesuit mission, Loreto served for more than a century as the Spanish colonial capital of the Californias. Through much of the
20th century, it was a sleepy fishing village, emerging as a tourist destination with the opening of the transpeninsular highway in 1973.
Mexico's tourism development agency, Fonatur, began focusing on Loreto during the 1970s. The agency identified Loreto as a potential center with major
tourism potential ? along with Cancun, Ixtapa, Huatulco and San Jos? del Cabo.
Beginning in the late 1970s, the agency invested about $200 million in Loreto. It paved roads, built a recreational port, developed drinking water and
sewage treatment systems, expanded the airport. But a key private investor went bankrupt, and major developers headed to Los Cabos, leaving ghostly
streets and shells of buildings. It wasn't until nearly two decades later, under President Vicente Fox, that Fonatur renewed its interest in Loreto.
Deep involvement
To this day, the agency runs Loreto's main aqueduct, operates the sewage treatment system and owns 12 square kilometers of prime beachfront property.
With development now taking off, the agency's involvement is getting stronger.
"If you wanted to know what this would be like without Fonatur, go and look at the small towns up and down the peninsula," said Peter Maxwell,
Fonatur's man in Loreto. But critics point to Fonatur projects such as Los Cabos and Cancun, where social and environmental problems have marred the
resorts' economic success.
Just south of Loreto at Puerto Escondido, Fonatur is putting the finishing touches on an anchorage and marina that will be the centerpiece of the
Proyecto Mar de Cort?s, a plan to draw boaters to the region through 28 linked ports. Maxwell said Fonatur is also negotiating with developers for two
projects that could add as many as 14,000 more units.
"I think the whole Baja California peninsula is the new megadestination for Mexico," Maxwell said. "Because of the beauty of the area, the weather.
It's so close to the States, and the prices are still very reasonable. Here the whole challenge is how we get the best of tourism without the worst of
tourism."
Loreto Bay Co., the Scottsdale, Ariz., developer that signed an agreement with Fonatur three years ago, promises the best of tourism. The company
chairman says its walkable beach-side communities at Nopol? will be environmentally friendly. Units range from $225,000 to more than $2 million.
"There is smart growth, and there is dumb growth," said Loreto Bay chairman David Butterfield. "If it's done responsibly, ecologically, with care
about social impacts, that's a completely different scenario than if it's done like Los Cabos."
The company has set up the Loreto Bay Foundation, pledging 1 percent of its sales for conservation of the marine park and economic development in
Loreto, and have disbursed $64,350. The developers have taken care to restore native habitats, work closely with archaeology authorities and recycle
construction waste, and are developing a wind energy project. They have committed $800,000 to help build a hospital in Loreto.
Butterfield said his development's goal is to "provide more potable water than we consume" through desalination or replenishing programs for aquifers.
But the company does not yet have a desalination project, and for now is getting water like everybody else ? drawing from the aquifer.
As growing numbers invest in new homes, uncomfortable economic disparities have surfaced: Many workers brought up by contractors from other parts of
Mexico to build Loreto Bay are packed into makeshift dormitories with few sanitary facilities. Some have begun complaining publicly that they were
lured with false assurances of high pay, only to be disappointed.
"They told us we'd get 3,000 pesos (about $285) a week, but they're paying less than 1,500 ($141)," said Constanto Reyes, who traveled with his two
sons from Mexico City. As a skilled laborer, Reyes said he can earn close to $130 a week when he can find work in Mexico City.
Yvo Arias, a Loreto-born architect and member of the master plan advisory committee, says those who oppose growth are wrong ? but he also opposes the
current proposal, saying the main beneficiary of the proposed land use changes is Fonatur itself.
"What they've done is design a suit that fits Fonatur and the Villages of Loreto Bay," said Arias. "Why just them? Why don't they give the rest of us
a chance to grow?"
Stop some Loreto residents and it's unlikely they have even heard about the master plan. But they will have an opinion about what the town needs.
Jobs, said Mario Castro Mart?nez, 24, diving for clams on a Sunday morning. A bigger marina, said Joel Davis Meza, 55, a fisherman. Paved streets and
sewers, said housewife Imelda Avila Arce, 27, from the front stoop of her house in Colonia Miramar, a semi-developed shantytown.
On a warm November afternoon, two guests swung from hammocks at the Hotel Oasis, engrossed in their English-language novels. Yards away, owner Pascal
Pellegrini, a native of Italy who married a Loretana, sipped coffee and considered the future for his adopted hometown.
"Growth is necessary, we've been blocked for 30 years, and we now have a grand and historic opportunity before us," Pellegrini said. "But this growth
has to benefit the people of Loreto."
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tehag
Super Nomad
Posts: 1248
Registered: 1-8-2005
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Loreto
This article was on the front page of San Diego's daily newspaper today. Puff pieces have been in the travel sections of lots of papers for a while
now, but this is a step up journalistically, both in where it appeared and how/by whom it is written. There have been similar pieces in the WSJ, the
CSM, and America Today. This kind of exposure both reflects and stimulates public interest. The name Loreto is fast becoming VERY well known. The
secret's pretty much out. The jig's up. For better or worse, the future is upon us.
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djh
Senior Nomad
Posts: 936
Registered: 1-2-2005
Location: Earth mostly. Loreto, N. ID, Big Island
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow fellow, plays a yellow cello...
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The study itself
Hi Noman friends,
If you'd like to read the study itself:
http://www.futurosalternativosloreto.org/report/index.htm
Happy New Year ! !
djh.
Its all just stuff and some numbers.
A day spent sailing isn\'t deducted from one\'s life.
Peace, Love, and Music
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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Ok
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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Skeet/Loreto
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A very well written Article and study!
Besides Water being a future Problem, the reference to the Lack of medical service is and always has been, due to Politics , a sad state of affairs
for Loreto and its People.
Skeet/Loreto.
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wilderone
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This is part of the study that I found compelling. Despite the gringo assumptions that Loretanos are wanting the green grass on the other side of the
fence, so to speak, that is not true.
"Loretanos say that they enjoy a relatively high quality of life. Despite the lack of greater employment opportunities and local services such as a
hospital, public transportation, and large retail stores, most people in Loreto report satisfaction with the quality of life in the community
(Carrilio and Ganster 2006). Loretanos have a sense of their historical past and value it. The strong community feelings are reflected in high rates
of political participation. Loretanos share many cultural and social values and the community displays significant internal cohesion.
Loreto?s population grew at an average annual rate of 3.9% (doubling time of 18 years) during the decade of the 1990s and the community was able to
retain its traditional social values. In conversations and interviews, people from the community express concerns that this sense of community and
shared culture might be lost in the event of rapid population growth associated with high economic growth in the future. Annual growth rates similar
to those experienced by Los Cabos in the 1990s (over 9% per year, doubling time of about 6 years) would bring new perspectives and values to Loreto
and would likely overwhelm traditional social cohesiveness and sense of community."
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flyfishinPam
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Posts: 1727
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Location: Loreto, BCS
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Big development plans in Baja town are raising many questions
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20051228-9999-1n28...
Big development plans in Baja town are raising many questions
By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 28, 2005
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
A tranquil evening found Loreto native Juan Rubio Higuera on the town's waterfront. Long a quiet outpost, Loreto is poised for major changes as
developers and the Mexican government promote the region as a tourism center.
LORETO, Mexico ? With its rugged mountains, uninhabited islands and vast marine park, this seaside town of 15,000 people offers some of the most
dramatic scenery on Baja California ? above water and below. Yet for years, tourists and developers have largely overlooked Loreto and headed to the
peninsula's booming southern end.
Now slow-paced Loreto has been discovered. Flocks of U.S. and Canadian tourists fly down to inspect their future vacation homes. Workers from Mexico's
interior arrive in search of jobs. Mexican government planners envision a rapidly increasing population, and academics on both sides of the border
question the implications of such growth.
A fierce debate flares over the future of Loreto, located on the Gulf of California and in a desert region with scarce water resources and few job
opportunities. The debate is likely to spread as stretches of sparsely populated coastline that were long off-limits to development are increasingly
up for sale.
"The things that are going on in Loreto are the same that are going up and down Baja California," said Robert Faris, a development economist from
Harvard University who has studied the town. "The demand for housing by North Americans is going to set off a remarkable change in land-use practices
in Baja."
In Loreto, many questions loom: Is there enough water to support large-scale growth? How can Loreto grow without destroying its most precious
resources ? the wealth of its sea life, its rich cultural and historic legacy, the small-town tranquillity? Who should benefit from growth?
Loreto's residents still wake up to crowing roosters and barking dogs. Afternoon winds blowing in from Loreto Bay rustle through palm trees, and on
Saturday nights, couples and young families promenade up and down the small sea wall, or malec?n. But for many here, sweeping vistas and sleepy charms
go only so far.
"Loreto is a small town, very pretty, the prettiest in Baja California Sur," said Mayor Rodolfo Davis. "But today, if somebody has a heart problem,
they have to pay a fortune to fly to La Paz. Those who can't afford it take a four-hour ambulance ride, and some end up dying before they've gone 100
kilometers."
The future of a community this size rarely resonates much beyond its boundaries, but Loreto's potential as a major tourist destination has brought
some unusual attention. Civic and business groups such as Loreto 2025, the Loreto Hotel Owners Association and the Grupo Ecologista Antares are
increasingly speaking out as the city government prepares to make some key decisions on the town's future.
The issues have come into sharp focus as Loreto for the first time considers a master plan regulating growth. Since it was incorporated in 1991, the
town has not had a such plan or the resources to pay for one. Fonatur, Mexico's tourism development agency, stepped in, hiring a consultant to write a
plan that by 2025 envisions 13,000 rooms ? in hotels, time-shares, condominiums and condo-hotels ? and 126,000 full-time residents.
"This would be huge growth," said Paul Ganster, head of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at San Diego State University. The plan
"looks very much like Cancun or Los Cabos, which strings out development along the coast."
Victor Castorena, an economist and Loreto native in charge of an advisory committee evaluating the Fonatur-sponsored plan, is a staunch supporter of
growth.
"Loreto needs to grow, Mexico needs to grow," he said. "Young people from Loreto leave to study, and they don't come back because there are no jobs."
The committee's final recommendation is expected early next year, but the final decision will be taken by the city council.
To the north, along the U.S. border, the coastal corridor between Tijuana and Ensenada is booming with developments aimed at U.S. tourists. About 300
miles south of Loreto, at Los Cabos, upscale resorts have brought unprecedented economic growth ? but also strings of unplanned shantytowns.
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
A group of U.S. and Canadian purchasers inspected their future homes during a recent weekend presentation in the Villages of Loreto Bay, a planned
community that an Arizona-based developer hopes will eventually grow to 6,000 homes south of town.
By contrast, Loreto has been relatively untouched, and one common explanation is that the region's typically grayish, rocky beaches cannot compete
with Los Cabos' broad stretches of soft white sand. Loreto's appeal in recent years has been more for sport fishermen, divers and snorkelers and
eco-tourists drawn by the Loreto Bay National Park, the largest marine protected area in Mexico.
Some would just as soon keep it that way. Among them Rodolfo Palacios, a diver who runs Loreto's Budget Rent-a-Car agency. He moved here from Los
Cabos 14 years ago.
"We're all friends, we all know each other, we know our friends' children, that's what I love about Loreto," said Palacios, a member of Loreto 2025,
which is seeking to cap growth at 60,000 people. "Tourists and locals share the same beaches. You don't have the servility that you see in Cabo San
Lucas, that the beaches are for tourists and no one else."
Magnet for Americans
The catalyst for change has been the arrival three years ago of an Arizona-based developer who is planning 6,000 homes, the Villages of Loreto Bay,
south of town in the community of Nopol?. The market base is made up primarily of U.S. and Canadian tourists interested in purchasing second homes.
More than 500 have bought, and the units are under construction. Those not ready to live here full time can place their units in a rental pool managed
by the developer.
As elsewhere on the peninsula, a major issue in Loreto is water. The last study by Mexico's National Water Commission is almost 20 years old, and new
numbers won't be available until the commission undertakes a study next year.
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
Fishermen unloaded the catch of the day near Loreto's town center. Some experts fear poorly planned growth will strain the region's natural resources,
but many residents hope development will bring jobs.
But even with water conservation and steps to channel more rainfall into aquifers, "we are very aware that this quantity of water is not enough for
125,000 residents," said Roberto Senci?n, an official in the water commission's groundwater division in Mexico City. "Desalination will have to be the
next option."
A study commissioned by the San Diego-based International Community Foundation echoes that assessment, stating that desalination is "the only apparent
option" if the town is to grow beyond 30,000 people.
But desalination could lead to "potential damage to marine ecosystems," and requires large investments in electric power. The potential for power
failures make desalination a risky primary source of water, said Thomas Maddock, a hydrologist from the University of Arizona who looked at Loreto's
water supply as part of the study.
Released last month, the $321,000 Loreto Alternative Futures Study also considers social and economic questions. The study looks at 25 alternative
futures for Loreto, examining five population growth scenarios ? from 30,000 to 240,000 by 2025 under five different planning approaches. The report's
authors include scholars from Harvard, University of Arizona, SDSU and the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur.
The study "forces people in a community like Loreto to start asking tough questions about water today, before they run out," said foundation president
Richard Kiy. "What plays out in Loreto is going to be the tip of the iceberg."
Founded in 1697 as a Jesuit mission, Loreto served for more than a century as the Spanish colonial capital of the Californias. Through much of the
20th century, it was a sleepy fishing village, emerging as a tourist destination with the opening of the transpeninsular highway in 1973.
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
"What we need most is drainage," said Imelda Avila Arce, 27, who lives in Colonia Miramar, a working-class Loreto neighborhood rarely visited by
tourists. Her husband earns less than $70 a week at his hotel job.
Mexico's tourism development agency, Fonatur, began focusing on Loreto during the 1970s. The agency identified Loreto as a potential center with major
tourism potential ? along with Cancun, Ixtapa, Huatulco and San Jos? del Cabo.
Beginning in the late 1970s, the agency invested about $200 million in Loreto. It paved roads, built a recreational port, developed drinking water and
sewage treatment systems, expanded the airport. But a key private investor went bankrupt, and major developers headed to Los Cabos, leaving ghostly
streets and shells of buildings. It wasn't until nearly two decades later, under President Vicente Fox, that Fonatur renewed its interest in Loreto.
Deep involvement
To this day, the agency runs Loreto's main aqueduct, operates the sewage treatment system and owns 12 square kilometers of prime beachfront property.
With development now taking off, the agency's involvement is getting stronger.
"If you wanted to know what this would be like without Fonatur, go and look at the small towns up and down the peninsula," said Peter Maxwell,
Fonatur's man in Loreto. But critics point to Fonatur projects such as Los Cabos and Cancun, where social and environmental problems have marred the
resorts' economic success.
Just south of Loreto at Puerto Escondido, Fonatur is putting the finishing touches on an anchorage and marina that will be the centerpiece of the
Proyecto Mar de Cort?s, a plan to draw boaters to the region through 28 linked ports. Maxwell said Fonatur is also negotiating with developers for two
projects that could add as many as 14,000 more units.
"I think the whole Baja California peninsula is the new megadestination for Mexico," Maxwell said. "Because of the beauty of the area, the weather.
It's so close to the States, and the prices are still very reasonable. Here the whole challenge is how we get the best of tourism without the worst of
tourism."
Loreto Bay Co., the Scottsdale, Ariz., developer that signed an agreement with Fonatur three years ago, promises the best of tourism. The company
chairman says its walkable beach-side communities at Nopol? will be environmentally friendly. Units range from $225,000 to more than $2 million.
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
Morgan Hill resident Laura Lundy joins daughter-in-law Cynthia Lundy and grandson Maverick in touring the Villages of Loreto Bay. The project draws
its water from a local aquifer, but as the region grows, desalination will become crucial.
"There is smart growth, and there is dumb growth," said Loreto Bay chairman David Butterfield. "If it's done responsibly, ecologically, with care
about social impacts, that's a completely different scenario than if it's done like Los Cabos."
The company has set up the Loreto Bay Foundation, pledging 1 percent of its sales for conservation of the marine park and economic development in
Loreto, and have disbursed $64,350. The developers have taken care to restore native habitats, work closely with archaeology authorities and recycle
construction waste, and are developing a wind energy project. They have committed $800,000 to help build a hospital in Loreto.
Butterfield said his development's goal is to "provide more potable water than we consume" through desalination or replenishing programs for aquifers.
But the company does not yet have a desalination project, and for now is getting water like everybody else ? drawing from the aquifer.
As growing numbers invest in new homes, uncomfortable economic disparities have surfaced: Many workers brought up by contractors from other parts of
Mexico to build Loreto Bay are packed into makeshift dormitories with few sanitary facilities. Some have begun complaining publicly that they were
lured with false assurances of high pay, only to be disappointed.
"They told us we'd get 3,000 pesos (about $285) a week, but they're paying less than 1,500 ($141)," said Constanto Reyes, who traveled with his two
sons from Mexico City. As a skilled laborer, Reyes said he can earn close to $130 a week when he can find work in Mexico City.
Advertisement
Yvo Arias, a Loreto-born architect and member of the master plan advisory committee, says those who oppose growth are wrong ? but he also opposes the
current proposal, saying the main beneficiary of the proposed land use changes is Fonatur itself.
"What they've done is design a suit that fits Fonatur and the Villages of Loreto Bay," said Arias. "Why just them? Why don't they give the rest of us
a chance to grow?"
Stop some Loreto residents and it's unlikely they have even heard about the master plan. But they will have an opinion about what the town needs.
Jobs, said Mario Castro Mart?nez, 24, diving for clams on a Sunday morning. A bigger marina, said Joel Davis Meza, 55, a fisherman. Paved streets and
sewers, said housewife Imelda Avila Arce, 27, from the front stoop of her house in Colonia Miramar, a semi-developed shantytown.
On a warm November afternoon, two guests swung from hammocks at the Hotel Oasis, engrossed in their English-language novels. Yards away, owner Pascal
Pellegrini, a native of Italy who married a Loretana, sipped coffee and considered the future for his adopted hometown.
"Growth is necessary, we've been blocked for 30 years, and we now have a grand and historic opportunity before us," Pellegrini said. "But this growth
has to benefit the people of Loreto."
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flyfishinPam
Super Nomad
Posts: 1727
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Loreto, BCS
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Mood: gone fishin'
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Sorry I didn't realize this was already posted when I posted this!
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Sharksbaja
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5814
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Newport, Mulege B.C.S.
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Funny how slow some are
to catch on. The destruction of Loreto will be at the hands of few,
whether the natives like it or not. Just ask Skeet. THe ironic part is how all these articles and studies actually fuel the feeding frenzy with their
exposure and glorified content . .:moon:
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Dave
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Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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OK, so which is it?
Doesn't it strike you as odd that a politically active, cohesive community would approve this project* yet at the same time appear to oppose it?
| Quote: | Originally posted by wilderone
This is part of the study that I found compelling. Despite the gringo assumptions that Loretanos are wanting the green grass on the other side of the
fence, so to speak, that is not true.
...The strong community feelings are reflected in high rates of political participation. Loretanos share many cultural and social
values and the community displays significant internal cohesion...
...In conversations and interviews, people from the community express concerns that this sense of community and shared culture might be lost in the
event of rapid population growth associated with high economic growth in the future. |
High rates of political participation traditionally means that elected officials share the will of the electorate.
* Building permits are issued at the local level.
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djh
Senior Nomad
Posts: 936
Registered: 1-2-2005
Location: Earth mostly. Loreto, N. ID, Big Island
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow fellow, plays a yellow cello...
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ahhh yes, the water...?
http://www.futurosalternativosloreto.org/report/report_water...
If you read only one part of the Futuros Alternativos study, this would be the one to read...
Who is it that's always saying "where is the water going to come from and who is going to pay...?" 
Happy New Year!
djh
Its all just stuff and some numbers.
A day spent sailing isn\'t deducted from one\'s life.
Peace, Love, and Music
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Anonymous
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That's alright Pam, this subject justifies many posts, identical or not.
Thus far, according to Loreto Bay, about 5 families have occupied their premises. And about the walking, bicicling , electric cart bull, they all have
a vehicle, one a van with a trailer, and they are all parked on our boulevard. So much for a starter.
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Skeet/Loreto
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The only way any of this can be stopped or slowed down is for the People of Loreto to do the same as they did years ago!!
Go in mass to the Highway, stop traffic until such time as the Governor/Presidente meet their Demands-as they did with the water several years ago-
and when they demanded that the Mission Bell be returned.
Loreto is a very unique Place! Sure do miss it!
Skeet/Loreto
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Phil S
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Mood: After 34 years. Still in love w/ my wife
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Just finished the "report". Thanks djh for posting it. The water part is disturbing for sure. While in Cabo I visited the desal plant operation of
the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort, where we spend two weeks every Thanksgiving. Even took digitals for Loreto Bays project manager if wanted. If
you haven't seen one yet. Make a point of finding one somewhere and take a look at it. I'm no engineer, and let me tell you, this is something very
complicated. I can see why it costs in the neighborhood of $2 mil to build. (And would someone please explain to me how a pipe that sucks water from
an "inlet" is going to destroy the ecological balance of the Sea of Cortez?) That amount is only peanuts to LB's profits on this project. When they
can commit $800,000.00 for a new hospital to Loreto, building the desal plant will be no obsticle for them. I'm sure Fonatur will have to 'kick in'
some money also for this project when the time is ready.
In the past fifteen years I've been coming to Loreto, I've seen many positive changes to the area. More restaurants for one example. Paved streets
for another, though they do have a long way to go to get them all paved. I'm sure with the new construction going on all over Loreto, the additional
tax revenue will be helping. I just don't see the need for panic here. My fifteen years experience in the area has been anywhere from three months
each time to six months at a time. Better than those that come down and spend a week here or two weeks and go back home until "next year". I
honestly don't see us becoming a "Cabo" Cabo's problem is the numbers of Resort rooms and the continued building of more "rooms". Cabo is further
south. Which equals warmer weather. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out, then that Loreto will always be cooler in the winter than Cabo.
So if I were a fisherman, and I was looking for the BIG ONES, I'd still be going to Cabo to do my fishing. BUT. If I were only interested in just
sunbathing. I'd still go to CABO. It is warmer there than Loreto. But it does disturb me to hear that the new owners of L.B. are parking on the
streets with their cars. That is something that the powers that be of Loreto Bay will have to deal with, because they certainly didn't expect
probably this to happen. However. Since these folks are "just moving in" I can see the need to have a car down there maybe temporarily to get
initially "moved in". Time will tell for sure on this one. And I wonder how many will be buying "electric golf carts" versus those that will "do
without" because of the cost. Be interesting to know the number of buyers paying cash, and the number of buyers that are "financing" their purchase.
Also would be interesting to know how many are going to "rent out" their units, versus those that will just "use them" from year to year.
Cinco. Are you a 'user' or a future landlord? IF L.B. isn't able to get your unit rented while it's empty if your a landlord, will this effect your
decision to have bought down here?
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flyfishinPam
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The people of town will come together
We cannot block the highway as that is illegal and stupid although it would get attention. What is happening is that the powers that be are hoping
that the people who vote and have the voice will be ignorant of what's going on around them. They must be educated then allowed to make their own
informed decision collectively. The education part is starting to take place. These things take time but what happens eventually will be of the will
of the people.
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wilderone
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I found this interesting as cursory research. Note that there are ownership issues as well as maintenance expenses. Could every Loretano pay their
water bill? Also note the ecological consequences - however, as there is little marine life left in Loreto Bay, maybe it won't matter.
TAMPA BAY SEAWATER REVERSE OSMOSIS (SWRO) PLANT
The Tampa Bay seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant was designed to produce an initial 95,000m? (25 million US gallons) of water per day, with planned
expansion to add a further 37,000m?/day in the future. Located adjacent to Tampa Electric's Big Bend 2,000MW Power Station, it is currently the
largest of its kind in the United States.
The project began in 1997 with the pre-qualification of potential tenderers. Final proposals were received in February 1999 and in July Tampa Bay
Water awarded the contract to S&W Water, a Stone and Webster - Poseidon Resources JVC, on a design, build, own, operate and transfer (DBOOT)
basis.
24 separate permits were required from various government agencies, requiring detailed investigation of many aspects of the plant's operation and
likely effects on the environment. This process began in November 1999 and after thorough evaluation by State and Federal authorities, all necessary
approvals were granted by late Spring 2001.
TAMPA BAY PLANT CONSTRUCTION
Construction began in August 2001 and the first 20,000m? of water was produced in March 2003. However, subsequently the plant has run sporadically,
producing far short of its intended output. Three of the companies involved in the project have filed for bankruptcy and on 2 December 2003 the
dispute over control and ownership went before a Federal Judge. If not resolved in the interim, the pre-trial hearing has been set for 4 February
2004.
The project involved the plant itself, a seawater intake, concentrate discharge system, various chemical storage and dosing facilities and 24km (15
miles) of product water transmission main.
The overall cost was $110 million. Wholesale cost of the product water has been projected at an average $0.659/m? over the next 30 years, dropping to
$0.497/m? if the expected agreement is reached on project co-funding.
SEAWATER REVERSE OSMOSIS (SWRO) PLANT DESIGN
The raw water intake is beside the neighbouring power plant's four discharge tunnels, two of which were tapped to divert around 166,000m?/day of the
cooling outflow into the intake structure. Since the power plant already screens its 5.3 million m?/day cooling stream inflow to exclude marine life,
this arrangement avoided any duplication and overcame potential environmental objections to the SWRO plant's seawater feed. From the intake, the water
is pumped to the pre-treatment facility.
Chemical filtration agents and ferric sulphate are added to the inflow, which passes through a two stage sand filter. The medium is continuously
backwashed, which further helps to lower the silt density index of the exiting water. There is also provision for dosing the water to adjust pH if
required.
The Reverse Osmosis (RO) system has seven independent trains, each comprising a transfer pump, cartridge filters, reverse osmosis membranes,
associated high pressure pump and an energy recovery turbine (ERT).
An 800hp vertical turbine transfer pump in each train draws raw water from the pre-treatment wet well to the 5 micron cartridge filter assembly. The
water then enters the RO process itself.
Each battery of reverse osmosis membranes is fed with pressurized water by a 2,250hp, horizontal split case high pressure pump equipped with variable
frequency drives which allow the feed pressure to be varied between 625psi and 1,050psi. These were fitted to the pumps to accommodate the variation
in salinity of the water, which naturally ranges between 18ppt and 32ppt in Tampa Bay, compared with the narrower 28ppt to 35ppt of typical seawater.
Being able to vary the input pressure allows the plant to match its operating power requirements to salinity changes.
Each of the plant's seven RO batteries has a minimum rated production of 16,000m?/day and consists of 168 pressure vessels, containing eight SWRO
membranes apiece. The permeate produced flows into a 1m diameter header pipe situated below. The high pressure concentrate returns to the ERT for
energy recovery and is then mixed with the power station cooling water in a ratio of 70:1 to dilute its high salinity before finally being discharged.
The permeate requires further treatment before distribution and use, leading to the building of a number of chemical storage vessels. A 22.5m? bulk
tank and a 4.5m? day tank have been constructed to store the sodium hypochlorite added to chlorinate the water. The calcium hydroxide, used to
introduce hardness, is housed in a 50t silo. It is added to the product water as a slurry in two up-flow lime contact chambers, some 12m high. To
balance the pH, a solution of carbonic acid is simultaneously diffused into the chamber. The carbon dioxide used to make the solution is stored in
another on-site tank. Chemical diffusers fitted to the lime chamber discharge weirs allow for further pH adjustment if necessary.
The finished product water flows into a 20,000m? storage tank and is eventually pumped 15 miles along a 1m pipeline to the Brandon regional
distribution facility, crossing two navigable rivers. Directional drilling was used in one case to position 550m of fibreglass pipe18m below the river
bed.
PROBLEMS
In 2000, Stone & Webster declared bankruptcy, leaving S&W Water without an engineering and construction partner. Later that year, with
performance deadlines looming, Poseidon teamed up with Covanta Energy. A year on, the replacement went the same way as its predecessor. A new company
was created to complete the plant, Covanta Tampa Construction.
When, in early 2002, it became clear that Poseidon and Covanta had been unsuccessful in securing long-term financing, Tampa Bay Water decided to buy
out Poseidon's interest in the project and push forward. This allowed them to save $1 million a year in financing charges, while retaining Covanta to
finish the job.
Several deadlines were missed in 2003, beginning with 31 January and repeated on 4 March and again on 20 May, after a crucial two-week performance
test revealed 31 deficiencies in the plant, including excessive membrane silting. This was compounded in September by Asian green mussels clogging the
filters and yet another default on the contract followed. In October, with the plant still unable to pass the 14-day performance test required for
final acceptance, Covanta Tampa Construction followed its parent company into bankruptcy. The ensuing dispute with Tampa Bay led to December's court
hearing. The judge ordered both sides into mediation, setting a 15 January 2004 deadline for Covanta to cure the plant' shortcomings and scheduling
the pre-trial hearing for February.
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flyfishinPam
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Most Loretanos don't pay their H2O bills now
and at a whopping $40MN (~4dlls) per month they simply ignore them. A great deal of the water problem currently is likely due to leakages within the
existing system and rampant waste.
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Skeet/Loreto
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PhilS
Good Post Phil.
Wildone: I take exception regarding the Marie Life of Loreto Bay;
CHALLENGE;One very Dark night take a Shrimp Trap and drop it to the 750 Mark, come back 24 hours later and Post on this Board the Results!!!
Now as to development: many years ago it was illegal to stop traffic on Hwy1 However it was done twice and would be done again if the people so
desire.If if it was so stupid why did it accoumplish what was sought?????
The Bell that now resides in the Mueusm!!!!!
The 9 Water Wells drilled in the Mountains above Loreto!!!!!!!
Do not ever judge the mexicano in American Terms-It will end up 'biting you in the Burro"!
From what I observed on my last trip and to others I have talked with, Loreto Bay has a very good chance of doing what they are saying However
PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHEN THEY BREAK GROUND ON THE HOSPITAL
If they are able to break the Political Hold on the "Doctor who contols' and get other Doctors to come to Loreto it will truly be a Miracle!!
The Sewer should not be too much of a problem,as years ago when The black water was coming down to the Malacon, they built a large Holding Pond out
North; has anybody done anything about the Black Lake or the residue left in the bottom??.
I think that many of the people buying in todays market do not have much desire to do anything other than enjoy the View.
Skeet/Loreto
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wilderone
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I said in the bay - not the Gulf.
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flyfishinPam
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Location: Loreto, BCS
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many years ago...
...there were practically NO means of communication and the people were desperate and for the most part, uneducated. So the only means of getting
attention was to make a roadblock. Things have changed a lot since then and now the above is not the case. If the will of the people is to define
the changes that take place here, it must be done so by legal means.
Blocking the road is stupid as we live on "an island" so to speak. How would we receive necessary goods if the road were to be blocked, and how would
the rest of the Baja, north and south receive goods if the road here were to be blocked for access to them? It is very illegal to do that and just
because it was successful in previous times doesn't mean that the same tactic would work today.
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