Sinking City

There was talk of crisis in Mexico City last week. Architect Mario Pani and Engineers Hector Maganda and Armando Oseli separately warned that the capital was sinking. Through thousands of wells, they said, subterranean water was being pumped out of the old dry lake bed on which the city stands. As a result, the whole city sank more than seven inches last year. The Palace of Fine Arts, already six feet lower than its original level, settled still more. Grades changed as Mexico City drank up its own footing.

The engineers' remedy: stop the well digging and dig a tunnel through the mountains to bring water from Toluca's Lerma River for the soggy but thirsty capital.

One Mexican who was unmoved by such warnings was swarthy, cigar-chomping Arturo Quiroz. As custodian of the 16-story National Lottery building, Mexico City's only floating skyscraper, he had only to transfer water from one to another of the four great ballast tanks beneath his building, then keep her steady as she went. Said he: "We'll ride it down. Everybody should be doing the same."

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