Unfortunately this is a common thing in Mexico (and extremely likely other 3rd world countries)

For example, in Puebla City there is a river (Atlixcayotl) that is literally where all the local industries and waterparks dump their "runoff" (let's be honest, poop and industrially-produced chemicals)

Which is a shame that this happens (even in 1st world countries). So much taking from land that has been living and forming for millions of years (the dirt is alive) and we dump all the poop/industrially-produced chemicals into the rivers.

Not to mention these rivers flow into oceans and the ocean currents do not respect any borders, the fish that are affected. The rivers that touch the soils that grow food (yes your meal was created from these soils)

Sorry I just meant to make a quick comment and it spurred into an entire mini-rant lmao.

I'm not sure if it's really true about this being a Third World issue, leaving aside the fact that Mexico is a well-developed nation with a large economy and outside the technical Cold War definition that nobody uses, I am not sure you can label Mexico "Third World". But the reason I object is there are a large number of American cities that have combined sanitary and storm sewers, including ones that are ridiculously wealthy like San Francisco.

When you see the well developed parts of Mexico you could say that it isn't a third world country... But once you see the poorer parts that quickly changes. The poorest parts of Mexico are very poor, unfortunately a very unequal country. Not to mention the Mexican government is consistently ranked among the most corrupt in the world.

> The poorest parts of Mexico are very poor, unfortunately a very unequal country

By this definition, the USA are a third world country then.

There is certainly a lot of inequality in the USA, but Mexico and other Central and South American nations take it to yet another extreme.

> By this definition, the USA are a third world country then.

Not even close

Now look at Oaxaca and Chiapas where people build their houses from stacked cinderblocks and take home plant clippings for fuel to cook dinner from their job as a gardener.

And more importantly compare the pay and purchasing power and the school systems. I don't think Americans realize how little Mexicans make and how expensive everything is to them except for labor.

None of those are examples of the third world

You just have not seen structural poverty at the state level

all the roads still work, there’s services, access to schools, technology (mines), property rights

So many riches that people of the first world take for granted

Looking at the poorest places, yes, absolutely.

Portland spent well over a billion dollars on the Big Pipe. It helped a lot but there are still sewer overflows a few times a year. Better than after every rain in a city that gets 9 months of rain a year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Big_Pipe

> I am not sure you can label Mexico "Third World".

I’m pretty sure you can say it’s a Third World country

You can say whatever you want of course, but 3rd world define countries that are neither aligned with the West or the East, in the Cold War. China is part of 3rd world countries.

It is called Developing nations today and Mexico is not part of either.