Frontera NorteSur June 2001

Molina currently teaches at MIT. He won the Nobel for his work on how humans affect the Earth's atmosphere. His work helped lead to the Montreal Protocol which banned the use of industrial chemicals that destroy the ozone layer.

Molina attended a special working session of the Joint Advisory Committee for the Improvement of Air Quality in the Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, El Paso, Texas, and Doña Ana County, New Mexico Air Basin (JAC). At the session Molina compared this region's air problems with those of Mexico City's where he did a study of air pollution and suggested some solutions.

Molina noted that Mexico City and the Cd. Juárez-El Paso region are both densely populated and surrounded by mountains. However, Cd. Juárez and El Paso residents are luckier in a way, Molina said, because their mountains are further away and there are stronger winds through the area that help carry away air pollution.

Upon arriving in Cd. Juárez on Sunday, May 6, 2001 Molina was taken to see brick-making ovens which cause air pollution and illegal dump sites where used automobile tires are thrown. Molina noted that Mexico City has neither of these problems to the same degree but has to deal more with old, polluting cars.

Source: El Diario, May 8, 2001. Article by Rubén Terrazas Sáenz.

San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora: Drinking Water News

The Sonora Secretaría de Salud (Department of Health) took 240 water samples from the San Luis Río Colorado (SLRC) water system and discovered that only 9 samples met the federal norms for chlorine levels.

Esthela Velázquez Saucedo, president of the Consejo Consultivo del Organismo Operador Municipal de Agua Potable, Alcantarillado y Saneamiento (consulting council of the water utility, Oomapas), stated that the present lack of chlorine could put people at danger for contracting hepatitis and salmonella.

Enrique Reina Lizárraga, the mayor of SLRC, replied that while chlorine levels may be low throughout some of the water system because of work that the city is doing to improve the system, all of the city's water does contain some chlorine.

"There is no danger of contracting an illness from drinking the tap water--I have even had the water to drink--because we are continually performing bacteriological tests and there is nothing abnormal in the system," the mayor said.

Reina went on to explain that the city is currently repairing and/or repositioning its 16 deep, water wells that provide the city's drinking water. "Because of this work the chlorine system does not function but it will be put back into operation when the wells are finished," he said.

Source: La Crónica, May 17, 2001. Article by Manuel Angulo.

Ocean Tourism Project Presented in San Felipe

The Escalera Náutica (Nautical Staircase), an ambitious tourist project that will benefit 23 locations in Baja California Norte and Sur, Sonora and Sinoloa, was presented yesterday at the port of San Felipe, Baja California Norte (BCN). The presentation was presided over by the Federal Secretary of Tourism (Secretaría de Turismo), Leticia Navarro Ochoa, and BCN Governor Alejandro González Alcocer.

In her presentation, Navarro said that decisions related to the Escalera will not come from Mexico City but will be made by cities involved with the project. The plan proposes increasing US boat arrivals to the region to 60,000 within 10 years.

Navarro also stated that Escalera Náutica will permit safe access to the Sea of Cortés through a web of 22 tourist ports. On average, the ports will be within 120 nautical miles (220 kilometers) of each other.

Source: La Crónica, May 23, 2001. Article by Marco Vinicio Blanco.

Nuevo Laredo Water Shortage & Water Payments to the US

Nuevo Laredo's newspaper El Mañana examines together the issues of the water shortage in Nuevo Laredo and the payment of water owed to the US. At the same time Mexico is paying the United States the 740 million cubic meters of water that it owes its neighbor, Nuevo Laredo's water utility has stopped pumping water six hours a day during the early morning hours in an effort to conserve water in that city. The article contrasts Nuevo Laredo's increased restrictions with the huge flow of water headed to the US.

José de Jesús Luevano Grano, secretary of the Mexican side of the Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas (known in English as the International Boundary and Water Commission), stated that according to Act 307, signed in March, 2001, all water owed the US should be paid by July 31. However, if not enough water can be diverted to the pay-back program, the date can be extended to September 30, 2001.

Luevano also said that between September, 2000 and March 3, 2001, the US had received 287 million cubic feet of water from Mexico. Between then and the end date Mexico must give the US the remaining 453 million cubic feet.

Some of the water headed to the US will come from the Chihuahua and Coahuila dams Luis L. León, La Fragua, Centenario and San Miguel. In an extreme situation 47 million cubic meters of water could go to the US from the Venustiano Carranza dam in Villa de Juárez, Coahuila.

Seeking to reassure area residents that they will have sufficient water this year, Luevano stated that given climatological conditions and the water levels in the Amistad, Coahuila and Falcón, Tamaulipas dams there will be enough water to supply the five million people that live in Mexican cities along the Rio Grande.

Source: El Mañana, May 22, 2001. Article by Gastón Monge.

Maquiladora Waste Allegedly Dumped in Matamoros City Landfill

Juan Alonso Castro, a member of the Matamoros city council, says that he will demand that Sonia Chacón, the city director of environmental inspection (Control Ambiental), appears before the council to explain why maquiladoras are allegedly being allowed to dump waste in the city landfill. Alonso also says that because of the existence of photos and videotape of the dumping there will be an investigation of Control Ambiental. Alonso believes that the dumping is taking place because of alleged corruption in Control Ambiental and/or at the landfill.

Francisco Guerra Gómez, Tamaulipas director of the Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Medio Ambiente (Federal Office of Environmental Protection, PROFEPA) stated that there are 100 maquiladoras in Matamoros that create hazardous waste. He added that this waste can represent a great danger if it is not handled as specified by the pertinent laws. Guerra assured the public that the maquiladora industry is continually inspected.

Source: El Mañana, May 14, 2001. Article by Karla A. Pérez and Nora González.

Quimica Fluor Speaks About Safety Issues and April Matamoros Acid Spill

Javier Martínez, head of Human Resources at Quimica Fluor, said that the April 16 escape of hydrofluoric acid never put human health at risk but did affect agricultural land. Quimica Fluor, owned by the Carso Group and E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. Inc, is a Matamoros producer of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid.

Martínez said that a small crack in a pipe allowed hydrofluoric acid to escape for a few seconds. "It affected a sorghum crop because this is a very sensitive crop, however the lives of residents were never in danger," he said.

Martínez continued by saying that this was the company's first such leak in over 20 years and that no one should be alarmed, "Quimica Fluor has the program, personnel and equipment to attend to any leak no matter what its magnitude."

In response to a question from reporters asking if Quimica Fluor was not a time bomb and a threat to Matamoros, Martínez agreed that large quantities of the acid could cause irreparable harm to human lungs but stated that a leak of such magnitude would never happen.

Martínez reaffirmed his company's promise to reimburse farmers for their lost sorghum crop. Quimica Fluor is only waiting for a Secretaría de Agricultura y Ganadería (Department of Agriculture and Livestock, Sagar) investigation to determine the cost of the accident to the neighboring growers.

Source: El Bravo, May 8, 2001. Article by Víctor Manuel Villegas.