The Return of the Mermaid: Revitilizing the Lerma Wetlands in the highlands of Central Mexico with the guidance of the Mother of the Waters. The Lerma Wetlands in the highlands of Central Mexico have been home to Otomian peoples for at least ten thousand years. In their belief system, the rich biodiversity in the sweet water wetlands and the valley was the fruit of the generosity of Creation Mother, the Tlanchana, who would show in her favorite springs, at the feet of the Sierra Mountains that separate the Toluca Valley from the valley of Mexico to the east. When in the 1940s hundreds of springs were destroyed with dynamite as per instructions of an international water consultant, the Tlanchana abandoned her people and the waters were swallowed into the aquifer, with fish and all: the 20,000 ha wetland shrank to a few scattered ponds.