Editing Lake Texcoco (section)

=== Artificial drainage ===
[[File:EnricoMartinez.JPG|thumb|Monument to Enrico Martinez in Mexico City]]

Mexico City suffered from periodic floods; in 1604 the lake flooded the city, with an even more severe flood following in 1607. Under the direction of [[Enrico Martínez]], a drain was built to control the level of the lake, but in 1629 another flood kept most of the city covered for five years. At that time, it was debated whether to relocate the city, but the Spanish authorities decided to keep the existing location.{{Cn|date=August 2023}}
[[File:Lake Texcoco (Lago de Texcoco) December 1855 map from Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 12 December 1855 to May 1856 (IA harpersnew12harper) (page 34 crop).jpg|thumb|Lake Texcoco map from [[Harper's New Monthly Magazine]], December 1855 ]]
Eventually the lake was drained by the channels and a [[Drainage tunnel|tunnel]] to the [[Pánuco River]], but even that could not stop floods, since by then most of the city was under the [[water table]]. The flooding could not be completely controlled until the twentieth century. In 1967, construction of the ''Drenaje Profundo'' ("Deep [[Drainage]] System"), a network of several hundred kilometers of tunnels, was done, at a depth between {{convert|30|and|250|m|ft|abbr=on}}. The central tunnel has a diameter of {{convert|6.5|m|ft|1|abbr=on}} and carries rain water out of the basin.  The [[Emisor Oriente Tunnel|eastern discharge tunnel]] was inaugurated in 2019.{{Cn|date=August 2023}}

The ecological consequences of the draining were enormous. Parts of the valleys were turned semi-arid, and even today Mexico City suffers from lack of water. Due to [[overdrafting]] that is depleting the aquifer beneath the city, Mexico City is estimated to have [[Groundwater-related subsidence|sunk]] 10 meters (33 feet) in the last century.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sample|first1=Ian|title=Why is Mexico City sinking?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/may/06/thisweekssciencequestions|access-date=3 October 2016|agency=The Guardian}}</ref> Furthermore, because soft lake sediments underlie most of Mexico City, the city has proven vulnerable to [[soil liquefaction]] during earthquakes, most notably [[1985 Mexico City earthquake|in the 1985 earthquake]] when hundreds of buildings collapsed and thousands of people died.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Moreno Murillo|first= Juan Manuel|year=1995|title= The 1985 Mexico Earthquake|periodical=Geofisica Colombiana|publisher=Universidad Nacional de Colombia|issue=3|pages=5–19|issn=0121-2974}}</ref>

The term "Texcoco Lake" now refers only to a big area surrounded by [[salt marsh]]es {{convert|4|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} east of Mexico City, which covers part of the ancient lake bed. Also there are small remnants of the lakes of [[Lake Xochimilco|Xochimilco]], [[Lake Chalco|Chalco]], and [[Lake Zumpango|Zumpango]].{{Cn|date=August 2023}}

Several species indigenous to the lake are now extinct or endangered (e.g. [[axolotl]]s).<ref name="auto"/>

The modern Texcoco Lake has a high concentration of salts and its waters are evaporated for their processing. A Mexican company, "Sosa Texcoco S.A." has an {{convert|800|ha|acre|adj=on}} solar evaporator known as [[El Caracol, Ecatepec|El Caracol]].{{Cn|date=August 2023}}

Land reclamation of the lakebed was part of Mexico's attempts at development in the twentieth century.<ref>Matthew Vitz, "'The Land with which we struggle': Land Reclamation, Revolution, and Development in Mexico's Lake Texcoco Basin, 1910-1950". ''Hispanic American Historical Review'' 92, no. 1 (2012): 41-71.</ref>