Border water, sewage troubles highlighted

The Tucson Citizen

Thursday, November 17, 2005
B. POOLE
bpoole@tucsoncitizen.com

Population increases and inadequate water systems are among the top environmental concerns along the Mexico-U.S. border, an Arizona environmental official says.

The population within 60 miles of the border is growing by about 7 percent a year and is expected to double by 2025, and the influx is putting pressure on water systems in the region, especially in Mexico, said Placido dos Santos, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality's border coordinator.

"If there's no planning and no additional water supply, there's going to be conflict," dos Santos told a group of about 20 water professionals in Tucson yesterday.

One key issue is the flow of sewage – treated and untreated – from Mexico into the United States. Because of inadequate sewer systems in Mexico, raw sewage flows from time to time into the U.S. in Naco and Nogales.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has helped deal with the problem by funding chlorine tablets used to disinfect the sewage.

"In August we had some serious events, and they went through 4,000 pounds," he said.

Treated sewage flows into the U.S. through the Nogales International Waste Water Treatment Plant, which treats all of the sewage captured in Nogales, Son.

The plant recently got $59.5 million from the EPA's Border Environment Infrastructure Fund. The money will be used to help ensure that the plant's effluent, which is discharged into the Santa Cruz River, meets Arizona's environmental standards, dos Santos said.

The two nations have been working toward solving border environmental problems through several binational efforts, including Border 2012, a binational effort launched in 2002 to improve the border environment.

"This Border 2012 program is focused on environmental quality for the purpose of improving public health," dos Santos said.

In a communique released in March, Border 2012 officials highlighted a need for more stringent efforts to improve the environment for the seven Mexican and 26 American tribes within 60 miles of the border.

Though recent EPA projects have provided safe drinking water and wastewater management for more than 8,000 Indian homes in California and Arizona, conditions are worse south of the border.

Few indigenous people in the Mexican border region have access to clean water or basic sanitation, the report says. Priorities for tribal lands include seeking funds through the EPA's Tribal Border Infrastructure Program for both sides of the border. Tribal lands need about $60 million in water improvements, the report said.