Frontera
NorteSur
April 2002
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Frontera
NorteSur |
ENVIRONMENT
Another Reynosa Lake Turned into an Illegal Dump
Elvira Vázquez, the director of Niños Ecologistas
de Reynosa, complained to the Reynosa newspaper La Crónica
that a lake in the Pedro José Méndez neighborhood
is still being used as an illegal trash dump. Vázquez also
stated that trash is being burned at the lake and that the resultant
smoke is a threat to residents' health.
La Crónica reports that the lake is officially closed for waste-disposal purposes but dumping is done at night, under the cover of darkness. Although a large sign near the lake states that leaving waste there is against the law and is punishable by heavy penalties, dumping continues and government has allowed it to continue.
Vázquez said that not all area residents are interested in closing the lake to dumping because many of them are involved in making money from the activities that take place there.
Waste handlers burn the garbage to extract what they call "oro
negro" (black gold). This includes such things as metals,
glass, wire and other recyclable materials that people discard.
Source: La Crónica, March 5, 2002.
Méxicali's Laguna Mexico: Another Trashed Lake on the
Border
Much like the heavily polluted Laguna La Escondida in Reynosa,
Tamaulipas, on the other end of the US-Mexico border, Méxicali's
Laguna Mexico is a small lake that middle-age area residents remember
from their youth as a place where they could go to picnic and
swim on hot summer days.
Now, however, the Laguna Mexico serves as an illegal trash dump
and the Baja California state government has said that it will
not invest in restoring the lake this year.
Arturo Espinoza Jaramillo, the head of the state's Secretaría
de Asentamiento Humanos y Obras Públicas del Estado ((Housing
and Public Works, Sahope), told the Méxicali newspaper
La Crónica that the restoration of the lake is the responsibility
of the federal government's Comisión Nacional del Agua
(CNA).
Espinoza also said that any action to improve the lake would have
to begin at the local level and then be approved at the state
level. The project would then be paid for by the CNA, he said.
Espinoza stated that he has not yet been advised of any city
plans to begin work at the lake.
To see a previous FNS story with photos on Reynosa's polluted
Laguna Escondida and the social justice issues that surround the
proposed restoration program, go to http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/apr01/feat4.html
Source: La Crónica (Méxicali), February 26, 2002.
Article by Eneida Sánchez Zambrano.