The Border Environment Cooperation Commission (Consejo Directivo de la Comision de Cooperacion Fronteriza, Cocef) announced in November that it had certified two projects in the United States and two projects in Mexico with a total value of $9.2 million dollars.
The two Mexican projects that were certified were landfills in Agua Prieta and Puerto Penasco, Sonora. The first project will cost $1.5 million dollars and the second will cost $1.7 million dollars. On the U.S. side, the Commission certified a treatment plant in Somerton, Arizona at a cost of $1.5 million and a project to improve the water and wastewater treatment systems for the city of Mercedes, Texas at a cost of $4.5 million dollars.
The Cocef (or BECC) is a bi-national commission created by the North American Free Trade Agreement to help clean up environmental problems along the border. The Commission considers sanitation, water treatment and wastewater treatment projects proposed by communities along the border and certifies them as eligible for loans by the bi-national North American Development Bank.
In related news, at the Commission's November meeting in Laredo, Texas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would be administering a fund of $10 million dollars to support the Project Development Assistance Program (PDAP). The purpose of the program is to facilitate studies on drinking water, water treatment and sanitation.
Source: El Norte