Frontera NorteSur May 2002

According to El Mañana, dozens of families have signed letters sent to the city government that protest the neighborhood's poor environmental conditions. However, the bad conditions in the area around Coahuila and Galeana streets still persist. People in the neighborhood began protesting to city government in 2001.

There is not yet a large accumulation of garbage in the neighborhood because the wind blows much of it away. Other trash is sometimes hauled off by private individuals that work for a small payment or tip from residents, according to one person from the neighborhood that did want to give his or her name.

Rio Bravo is a city of approximately 150,000 people located between Reynosa and Matamoros, across from Pharr, Texas.

Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), April 23, 2002.

Méxicali Environmental and Health News

Trees planted to fight odors

In an attempt to mitigate odors coming from a waste-water treatment facility in Méxicali's Zaragoza neighborhood, Méxicali's Dirección de Ecología (Office of Ecology) has begun planting 6,000 trees on the banks of a waste treatment pond. Another 9,000 trees will be planted in future phases of the project.

According to Alejandra León Gastélum, head of the Dirección de Ecología, the trees are all from species that absorb odors and should reduce odors around the treatment plant by 60%. Her office is also in the midst of testing some chemical products to see if they could help mitigate the problem.

The plan to plant the trees received the backing of the Comisión Nacional de Reforestación (National Reforestation Commission) and is a joint project between the city and and federal government.

Safe drinking water?

In an investigative article for the Méxicali newspaper La Crónica, writer Marco Vinicio Blanco found that drinking-water distributors throughout the city appear to violate a number of health regulations.

In contradiction to federal law, many distributors were selling bottles of water that had no safety seals on them. Blanco even witnessed people pouring water from one container to another with plastic or aluminum funnels.

The same people that delivered water to homes were also collecting money for the sales, which is also in violation of Mexican law.

Finally, trucks that were used to transport water did not have any signs on them to let buyers know from where and whom their water was coming.

The Federal Consumer Protection Office (Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor) has said that in May, 2002 it will conduct an intense investigation of the industry to detect any irregularities.

Sources: La Crónica (Méxicali), April 4, 2002. Tree article by José Manuel Yépiz Ruiz.
La Crónica, April 8, 2002. Drinking water article by Marco Vinicio Blanco.

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.