Brewer s discovery of artificial reservoirs  topographical depressions that were lined with clay to make a water-tight basin  addressed how the Maya conserved water from the heavy rainfall from December to spring, which got them through the regions extreme dry spells that stretched from summer to winter. They also controlled the vegetation directly around these reservoirs at this hinterland settlement, says Brewer. The types of lily pads and water-borne plants found within these basins helped naturally purify the water. They knew this, and they managed the vegetation by these water sources that were used for six months when there was virtually no rainfall.

Without that system, Brewer says the smaller, more remote settlement would have been more dependent on the larger Maya sites that ran a larger water conservation system.

Brewer has conducted research at the site since 2006, including spending two years of intensive surveying and mapping of the region. Future research on the project will involve the completion of computerized mapping of up to 2,000 points of topography  distances and elevations of the region in relation to water sources, population and structures. Brewer says he also wants to continue exploring the construction and management of these hinterland water systems and, if possible, gain a better understanding of what knowledge about them might have passed back and forth between settlements.