The U.S.Mexican Border

1
The U.S.-Mexican Border

• The Southwestern U.S.

2
Overview

• Unique problems
• Unique locale
• Unique complexity
• Poverty
• Ignored

3
The Border Environment

• Disease
• Poverty
• Pollution
• Multiple governments
• Multiple agencies
• Isolation

• Indifference
• Lack of political clout
• Out-dated attitudes
• Drought
• Industry
• Corruption
• Smuggling

4
What Is the Border?

• Approximately 2,000 miles from San Diego to
  Brownsville, TX (Harlingen)
• 62 miles wide on each side (100 km)
• If it were a state, it would be the poorest state
  per capita in the U.S.

5
What Is the Border?

• Two countries
• Four U.S. states
• Six Mexican states

6
El PasoWhos in charge here?

• U.S. State Department
• DOT
• EPA
• Border Patrol
• Immigration
• Customs
• Joint Task Force 6
• US Marshall Service
• ATF
• DEA
• FBI

• Department of Agriculture
• FDA
• County Health Department
• Fire Departments
• Texas Department of Environmental Quality
• Texas State Police
• County Sheriff
• City Police
• Mexico
• New Mexico

7
The Story of Cobalt Man

• Vincente Sotelo Alardinin prison for a theft
  in 1983
• 4,000 people exposed to cobalt 60
• 20-year old radiotherapy machineunused
• 6,000 pin-head-size pellets of cobalt 60
• Sotelo told to dispose of it Sold for scrap
  metal

8
The Story of Cobalt Man

• Mixed with other scrap metal lawn furniture
  rebar
• Discovery Driver made a wrong turn at Los Alamos
  National Laboratory set off alarms.
• Radioactive furniture rods reached 23 U.S.
  states, Mexico, 3 other countries

9
The Story of Cobalt Man

• Exposure to Co 60 35,000 chest X-rays
• One worker died
• Others ill
• Sotelo the scapegoat

10
The Story of Cobalt Man

• The lesson learned
• Public health environmental fate of U.S. and
  Mexico are closely linked

11
The Problems

• Waste disposal
• Air quality
• Water quality and quantity
• Public health
• Poverty
• Two levels of environmental action (U.S.
  Mexico)
• Security

12
MaquilladorasWaste Disposal

• Twin Plants Manufacturing in Mexico that gets
  tax breaks
• All waste must come back to the U.S.

13
Colonias

• Subdivisions in unincorporated areas (no building
  codes or city regulations)
• No city water, no sewage, and often no
  electricity
• Home owners build their own housesquality
  construction
• Contract for Deedno title to land until full
  price of lot is paid (no equity, no collateral)
• Surveys are lacking or are incorrectnot platted
• To plat, must conform to model subdivision rules
  of 1989

14
Colonias

• Unpaved streets
• No busesnot even school buses into neighborhood
• Water supply
• Shallow wells
• Drums and tanks
• Septic tanks

15
Air Pollution

• Border crossings vehicles waiting in line
• The brick manufacturers a success storyfueled
  by natural gas now instead of used tires
• Home heating in JuarezState Health Department
  did not know what was U.S. and what was Mexico
• Ozonetoo much sunlight
• Cars too many in El Pasotoo old in Juarez

16
Water!

• Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers
• Groundwater
• Agriculture Can the desert still bloom?
• 90 to 95 of Texas water goes to agriculture
• Growing cities industry
• Surface water pollution
• Who gets it? Contracts and treaties that go back
  a hundred years

17
Poverty in the Border

• Inadequate tax base
• Unskilled or semi-skilled workforce
• Jobs going to Mexico or the Far East
• Strong family ties people dont want to leave to
  find better jobs

18
Waste Water Treatment

• U.S.State-of-the-Art re-inject drinkable water
• Mexicocount the wastewater treatment plants in
  the country on your fingers
• Juarez Agua Negraan open ditch of untreated
  sewage

19
Juarez, Mexico

• Population 1.2 million
• The promised land for the interior35,000 new
  residents each year
• The mayors comments on infrastructure
• He cannot keep ahead of the growth
• The city dump thousands live in the dump and
  scavenge
• The school bus on blocks an elementary school
  classroom

20
The Solutions

• Problems will be solved in Mexico City
  Washington, D.C.
• Long-term (duh)
• The challenges
• Waste disposalYucca Mountain Low-Level Nuclear
  Waste Disposal
• No political clout
• No money

21
The Solutions

• Sustainability
• Alternative energy
• Old models wont work in the next decades
• Short-term economic gain
• Old habits, contracts, practices

22
We cant solve the problemsWe can only address
the issues

• Jobs Juarez and the U.S.
• Limited resources on both sides of the border
• Wealth differential U.S. has luxury
• Issues with no simple answer

23
The Future of El PasoThe 5 Ms

• Medical technology
• Manufacturing
• Military
• Mobility
• Mexico

24
Where Does Environmental Training Fit?

• Public Health
• Water Quality
• Air Quality
• Waste Disposal
• Political Activism Public Awareness
• Sustainability

25
A few photos
26
The Desert Can Be Wet

• This is the way the Rio Grande River environment
  can look during wet times.

27
A Desert Wetland

• The Rio Grande River naturally is surrounded by
  aquatic grasslands.

28
The Twin CitiesLooking south from the UT El Paso
campus

• The river is the international border. (center on
  right side of picture, flowing toward the left
  and away)

29
The Twin CitiesLooking south from the UT El Paso
campus

• Same location with a telephoto lens. The water in
  the river is discharge from a U.S. wastewater
  treatment plant and groundwater inflow. (U.S.
  left, Mexico right)

30
The Twin CitiesLooking west from the UT El Paso
campus

• I-10 in the foreground, the railroad, the river,
  (border) and Juarez in the background.

31
The Twin CitiesLooking south from the UT El Paso
campus

• Same location with telephoto lens. The boxcars
  are in the U.S., the soccer game is in Mexico.
  The river is hidden by vegetation. Note border
  fence.

32
The Twin CitiesLooking northwest from the UT El
Paso campus

• The river (border) on the left. Asarco copper
  refinery in the U.S.

33
The Rio Grande

• North of El Paso. The river is not the
  international border here, the border has turned
  west. The river flow is controlled by dams in New
  Mexico. Water will be released in late March for
  irrigation.

34
The Land Surrounding El Paso

• Creosote bushes and low dunes.

35
Open Pit Copper Mine in Bixby, AZ

• The water in the bottom of the pit is pitch
  black. Is it the exposed water table?

36
Experiment in Sustainability

• East of El Paso is a series of wind generatorsa
  start.

37
The Desert Without Irrigation

• This is what most of the desert southwest looks
  like.

38
Agriculture in the Desert Southwest

• These circles are created by the irrigation
  systems. All the green is due to irrigation. What
  will be the value of this land when the water
  goes away?

39
The End