Bacalar puts 97 million pesos into streets, sanitation and flood drainage in its second annual report

Bacalar has built five new absorption wells in the parts of town that flood first, and has put toilets with biodigesters into the homes of almost 200 rural families, the municipality reported on September 14. In a town whose neighborhoods drain downhill toward its lagoon, where the rain goes once it leaves the pavement is not a small municipal detail. It is the lagoon's business.

The figures come from the second annual report of municipal president José Alfredo "Chepe" Contreras Méndez, delivered at a solemn session of the town council in Bacalar's artisan dome, with Governor Mara Lezama attending as guest of honor. The municipality said it invested more than 97 million pesos in public works over the year. That money paved more than 12,000 square meters of streets across nine communities and the town itself, rehabilitated more than 2,500 square meters of streets and avenues in town, and equipped 18 public parks. The report does not break the 97 million down by project, so it does not say what the wells or the sanitation cost.

Where the rain goes

The five wells are the part of the report with the clearest line to the lagoon. The municipality described them as new pozos de absorción, shafts that take storm water off the street and send it down toward the water table, built in priority areas of the town to handle the rainy season more efficiently. The report does not name the streets.

The reasoning behind them was set out by the mayor in January. Speaking to Diario Cambio 22, Contreras said the town had asked the federal government to fund five wells so that rain running down from the neighborhoods toward the lagoon would arrive "without sediment, or as little as possible," and so not harm what he called the town's main attraction. He said heavy rain washes sediment into the lagoon, which at times has even changed its color, and he described talks with the Bacalar ejido about a plot that could take runoff through sand traps and a well before it reached the shore. The September report does not say whether the five wells it lists are those same five, whether federal money paid for them, or whether the ejido plot went ahead.

A second piece of drainage was under way days before the report. On September 9 the municipality was laying a storm drain of wide concrete pipe on Calle 34, between Calles 7 and 9 in Colonia 5 de Mayo, an area of low ground with a history of standing water after rain. The town estimated about two weeks of work and gave no figure for its cost.

Sanitation beyond the town

The biodigester toilets went to almost 200 families in 21 communities and the municipal seat, according to the report, alongside new bedrooms for more than 24 rural families. The municipality presents this as rural housing and sanitation. It does not present it as a measure for the lagoon's water, and it should not be read as one.

The lagoon shore has its own rules. In March the mayor told Noticaribe that homes and businesses along the lakeside road were being urged to connect to the sanitary sewer, that some properties there still relied on sealed tanks or biodigesters, and that construction licenses in the area require one or the other, with a log showing monthly maintenance. He also described a plan for the south end of the lakeside road with sewer, sidewalks, drinking water and power lines, which he put at more than 400 or even 500 million pesos, and said the municipality could not pay for it alone. The September report does not mention that project.

The rest of the report

Beyond the works, the report lists 19 community domes, play areas in 18 communities, new ambulances, a Bienestar clinic and the municipality's first family court, which saves residents the time and cost of traveling to one. It says Bacalar has begun to add public beaches for families and visitors, and that it signed an agreement with the municipality of Tulum to open new sales channels for Bacalar's farmers, artisans and small producers. The 20th edition of the town's open water marathon drew more than 1,500 swimmers from five countries, according to the report.

The municipality also pointed to the Premio Mágico por Excelencias 2026 it won in the sustainability category for "Respiro a la Laguna: Miércoles de No Navegación," the lagoon's weekly day off. During the low season boat traffic stops on Wednesdays, and the mayor said in March that boat operators and hoteliers use those days to clean the lagoon.

What the report does not settle

Every figure above is the municipality's own, drawn from a report written to present the administration's year, and none has been independently checked. Not everyone on the council accepted it: councillor Tania Casa Madrid disputed the account, pointing to power cuts and gaps in basic services, according to Grupo Pirámide. Five wells and one storm drain are also targeted works rather than a drainage network for the whole town, and the town's own January plan tied their value to where the water ends up, which the report does not measure.

For anyone who owns at the lagoon, about two and a half hours south of Tulum, or is weighing a home there, the rainy season works are the part to watch. Our Bacalar page carries the homes currently on the market there, and our report on the lagoon hotel permit refusal covers the other decision shaping the shore this season. Last week we also looked at the state's proposal to put Bacalar's name on the Chetumal airport.

Sources: Municipality of Bacalar, Second Government Report of José Alfredo Contreras Méndez, as published by Periodistas Quintana Roo, September 14, 2026; Heraldo de México Quintana Roo, Efraín Castro, "Bacalar y José María Morelos presume obras, inversión y saneamiento financiero en sus informes," September 16, 2026; Picotazo Político, storm drain works on Calle 34, September 9, 2026; Diario Cambio 22, remarks by José Alfredo Contreras Méndez on absorption wells, January 3, 2026; Noticaribe (Agencia SIM), remarks by José Alfredo Contreras Méndez on lagoon infrastructure, March 4, 2026; Grupo Pirámide, September 15, 2026. Main image: "Those rainy nights, Bacalar QR Mexico," by Dr. Matthias Ripp, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.