Environmental Issues

Water

Air

Land

Environmental
Health

Emergency
Prep & Response

Environmental
Stewardship

Water quality, air quality, and natural resources suffer a disproportionate amount of environmental degradation compared to each nation’s overall environment in the border region. The 14 metropolitan areas along the border have abysmal air and water quality. Rapid population growth in these urban areas has lead to increased demand for land and poorly planned development; greater demand for energy, amplified traffic congestion and waste generation, overburdened or unavailable waste treatment and disposal facilities, and frequent chemical emergencies. Rural communities along the border are also confronted with a host of environmental problems. These problems include: illegal dumping, agricultural drainage, airborne dust and pesticides exposure, inadequate water supplies, insufficient or nonexistent waste facilities and degradation of natural resources and ecosystems.

Environmental Health Problems

As a result of regional environmental degradation, many border residents suffer from environmental health problems, including waterborne and respiratory diseases . These health problems can be related to air pollution, inadequate water and sewage treatment, or improper management of pesticides, and hazardous and solid wastes. The elderly and children are especially at risk. Rural communities are sometimes at a greater risk, as they are more likely to have inadequate water supply and treatment systems.

Recognizing these environmental and public health problems, the United States and Mexico have agreed to act jointly to address them, consistent with principles of environmental protection, resource conservation and sustainable development.

Issue: Adequate and Clean Water Supply

Water is the most limited resource in this primarily arid region. Surface and groundwater resources are threatened by contamination, including agricultural runoff, industrial discharge, and untreated sewage. Increasing demand for water has led to the rapid depletion of aquifers. Inadequate water supply and inefficient use of water could limit future regional development.

When the Border XXI Program began in 1996, 88 percent of border households in Mexico had potable water service; 69 percent were connected to sewers; and 34 percent were on sewer systems that were connected to wastewater treatment facilities. Those numbers improved by the end of 2000 to 93, 75 and 75 percent, respectively. In addition, Border XXI supported efforts to monitor surface and sub-surface water quality in a number of key basins. A list of specific projects can be found on the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and North American Development Bank (NADB) Web sites.

Issue: Air Pollution

Pollutants from a number of sources including motor vehicles, power plants and industrial facilities, agricultural operations, mining, dust from unpaved roads, and open burning of trash have affected urban and regional air quality along the U.S.-Mexico border. The most common and damaging pollutants from these sources include sulfur dioxide, suspended particulate matter (PM-10 and PM-2.5), nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone, and carbon monoxide.

Although substantial gains have been made, air quality is still a major concern throughout the border region. The pressures associated with industrial and population growth, the increase in the number of old vehicles, differences in governance and regulatory frameworks, and topographic and meteorologic conditions present a challenging context in which to address air quality management. These same factors also present many opportunities for binational cooperation.

Issue: Land Contamination

As the number of people and industrial facilities grow in the border area so does the quantity of hazardous and solid waste generated. And as the amount of hazardous waste generated so does the risk of contaminated sites. Another important issue is scrap tire piles in the border area because these piles result in mosquito-borne diseases and the possibility of fire which causes severe, acute air contamination. Progress has been made in cleaning up scrap tire piles, remediating contaminated sites and constructing permitted solid waste landfills. One priority area is to establish mechanisms for cleaning up tire piles and preventing more tire piles from being created. Another priority issue is to increase the capacity of permitted hazardous waste facilities so that the capacity of permitted facilities is commensurate with the amount of hazardous waste being generated.

Issue: Environmental Health

Border environmental health efforts focus on reducing the risk to border families, especially children, that may result from exposure to air pollution, drinking water contaminants, pesticides and other toxic chemicals.

Environmental health efforts under Border 2012 improve capacity to conduct surveillance, monitoring, and research on the relationship between human health and environmental exposures; deliver environmental health intervention, prevention and educational services; and enhance public awareness and understanding of environmental exposure conditions and health problems. Program activities focus on strengthening data gathering (including the development/application of indicators to assess changes in specific human exposure and health conditions), training and education to build infrastructure; and provision of critical information to decisionmakers to achieve improved environmental health in the border region.

Issue: Environment-Threatening Incidents & Response

Rapid economic and population growth along the U.S.-Mexico border has also increased the potential for hazardous waste releases and emergencies. In addition, terrorism is a growing concern for both the United States and Mexico.

The ability to plan and prepare bi-nationally improves the probability of adequately responding to incidents and protecting the environment and public from exposure to harmful contaminants and possible serious environmental or health impacts.

Issue: Industrial Environmental Stewardship

Since the ratification of North American Free Trace Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, trade between the US and Mexico has been increasing substantially. Industry (maquiladoras) along the Mexican side of the border is an important source of employment and, consequently, the largely manufacturing industry in the area creates negative environmental impacts. There are environmental laws on both sides of the border to regulate these industries that tackle issues such as chemical production, pollutant discharge to air and surface waters, and the generation, transportation, storage, and treatment of hazardous wastes.

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