Mexico City Area Tunnel Aims to Reduce Flood Risk

Delfina Gómez Álvarez, Governor of the State of Mexico, and Efraín Morales López, Director General of the National Water Commission (Conagua), activated the Churubusco-Xochiaca Tunnel in eastern Mexico. The tunnel is intended to mitigate flood risk for over one million residents across several municipalities in the State of Mexico and the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City.

The project, part of a larger plan for the eastern State of Mexico, directs rainwater to the Churubusco-Xochiaca regulation lagoon, preventing drainage system saturation during heavy rainfall. Officials also completed desilting and expansion work on the Churubusco-Xochiaca and El Salado regulation lagoons to further increase storage capacity.

The tunnel represents a joint investment of over 450 million pesos from the Mexican federal government, the State of Mexico, and the municipality of Nezahualcóyotl. The system includes a 2.44-meter diameter collector, a five-meter diameter tunnel, and a pump station capable of removing 16,000 liters of water per second.