After the conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spaniards began to drain the lakes' waters to control flooding.
Over the centuries Lake Zumpango lost it its inflows and outflows and became polluted by sewage and garbage dumps.
[3] Settlements were recorded on the shores of Lake Zumpango dating back to the period of 200 BC to 100 AD.
He did succeed in building a canal in this area, calling it Nochistongo, leading waters to the Tula Valley, but the drainage was not sufficient to avoid the Great Flood of 1629 in the city.
Lake Zumpango was part of the original habitat of the axolotl, an amphibian which is now critically endangered due to its destruction.