No Wrong Turns: SpringBreak ’09 in the Toilet?

Spring Break in Cabo San Lucas has been enticing college students for years with its beaches, surf and, of course, the infamous bars like El Squid Roe. Now, Spring Break 2009 is on the verge of being canceled due to the ill effects previous Spring Breaks have had on the Baja water table.

Mexican officials are reporting that the water table has been negatively affected due to increased water consumption during this holiday week. Apparently, the worst culprit is toilet flushing. Mexican scientists and environmentalists are concerned that a massive water shortage, due to huge amounts of flushing, will be imminent if the number of Spring Break attendees increases next year and they are lobbying the local government to cancel the event altogether.

Don’t fret yet, Cabo-lovers! Due to the uproar from the local tourism association about the subsequent loss of income, the Cabo San Lucas municipal government is working on a plan to please both the environmentalists and the tourism workers.

The potential plan is to involve a toilet-flushing schedule. Specified hotels will be given the go ahead to flush at certain times of the day while others will have to wait to flush until their appointed time. The details of what hotels and when is still under great debate as hotels vie for top flush times. Miguel Suarez, a spokesperson for the municipal government, was quoted earlier this week saying, “We definitely don’t want to cancel Spring Break 2009 and plans are currently underway to schedule the water usage, particularly from toilet flushes, during this event. We have top project managers and local environmentalists working with a number of hotels in the area to work out the Fair Flush Schedule.”

It’s hard to say whether this so-called “Fair Flush Schedule” will agree with the hotels or how next year’s Cabo San Lucas party crowd will react to being told when they can and cannot use the facilities. Local hotels are already stocking up on emergency buckets to be left in all hotel rooms and there have been rumors of hotels forming alliances with port-a-potty distributors in the area.

So the question is will Spring Break 2009 get tanked?