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New Mexico-Texas-Chihuahua Regional Workgroup
Project
New Mexico-Texas-Chihuahua Water
Data gathered from the Clean Rivers Project, an assessment of the transnational Rio Grande River’s water quality, will assist in setting baseline data to measure water quality improvements under Goal 1 of the Border 2012 Program. The Clean Rivers Project was completed in 2003 and studied three segments of the river in the Tri-State region; the data showed that at least one of the water quality standards was not being met in each of the three regions. Currently, EPA Region 6 is coordinating efforts with universities to determine if ongoing research can be used to fill in the water quality gaps of the Rio Grande.
In 1994, CERM developed Agua Para Beber, a communitybased program for improving water quality and promoting safe hygiene practices in low-income border communities through seed money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) via the Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP). The program combines a hygiene education and water purification program with the distribution of low-cost, drinking water receptacles and utilizes the services of community health promoters or promotoras for implementation.
Since its inception the program has:
- Reached over 5,000 families (approximately 20,000 individuals) along the U.S.-Mexico border
- Partnered with over 23 community and non profit organizations
- Developed a training Guide in Hygiene Education and Water Purification (El Paso, Texas: Center for Environmental Resource Management, 1995, 2005) and workshops for promotoras as well as culturally and linguistically appropriate materials for the public.
Through the implementation of the Agua Para Beber, CERM was able to help identify community needs beyond the program. The Healthy Home Environments program began in 2003, which incorporates Agua Para Beber best management practices, and gives community members educational tools to address household waste, indoor air, and pesticides issues. Through this program, an additional 2,500 families have been reached over the last four years. CERM and partners received the 2000 and 2007 Texas Environmental Excellence Awards for the Agua Para Beber and Healthy Homes programs respectively.
New Mexico-Texas-Chihuahua Air
As a result of designating El Paso a “non-attainment area” for National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality worked with the New Mexico Environment Department, SEMARNAT, and the local communities of El Paso, Doña Ana County, and Ciudad Juárez to reduce emissions in this portion of the Texas border region. Since 1997, air monitoring data has shown the El Paso area to be in compliance with the federal 8-hour ozone standard of 85 ppb. In addition, no violations of the carbon monoxide standard have been recorded since 2001. In 2004 and 2005, El Paso became one of the first Texas cities to meet the NAAQS standards for 8-hour ozone and carbon monoxide. The success of El Paso’s cleanup campaign is attributed to a number of programs. These include: emissions testing through tailpipe inspections that have been in place since 1987; Stage II Vapor Recovery Systems at all U.S. commercial pumps; the use of oxygenated fuel during winter months both on the U.S. and Mexico side; the use of pollution prevention measures during construction; and a ban on open burning unless permitted.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Small Business & Local Government Assistance Section staff partnered with Home Depot, El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Municipality of Juárez Environmental Department and Border Quality Campaign, and several associations and private businesses in the El Paso and Juárez area to present a series of surface coating workshops and paint gun exchange opportunities. The project goal was to decrease VOC and particulate emissions in the El Paso/ Juárez air shed through the voluntary exchange of traditional paint guns for more efficient, less polluting HVLP (High Volume, Low Pressure) spray guns. A total of nine “Great Border Tradeout” workshops were held in El Paso and Juárez from March 2007 thru January 2008. In addition to regulatory compliance training, hands-on training using HVLP guns was provided to workshop participants. At the conclusion of the workshops, participants were given the opportunity to exchange their older air atomization spray guns for free HVLP paint guns.
The project was a great success for the region because:
- 250 HVLP spray guns distributed
- 250 + old air atomization spray guns collected and taken out of use
- 7.53 Tons of VOC’s no longer being emitted to El Paso/Juarez air shed
- 11.02 Tons PM no longer being emitted to air shed
- 3,011 gallons of paint saved by using new HVLP spray guns
- $451,687.50 – Amount of cost savings to small businesses due to application efficiency/less paint required
- $19,750.00- Value of paint guns distributed to program participants
- 320 pounds of aluminum recycled from old conventional spray guns
The Biodiesel Project from Waste Vegetable Oil aims to produce a pilot biodiesel fuel from waste vegetable oil, and is to be led by the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Tribe in El Paso, Texas. Furthermore, proposals that received funding in the fiscal year of 2004-2005 hope to reduce air pollution by observing a reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions, promote environmental stewardship by integrating waste grease producers as bio-fuel marketers, identify waste grease generators, report total waste grease generated in the Paso del Norte region and use biodiesel in a donated vehicle to promote biodiesel usage.
New Mexico-Texas-Chihuahua Land
In 2004, the municipality of Juárez, Chihuahua, along with the State of Chihuahua, Grupo de Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) S.A de C.V., EPA and SEMARNAT signed a Cooperation Agreement that involved economic contribution and status and legal procedures for the final disposition of scrap tires in Juárez, home to largest scrap tire pile along the U.S.-Mexico border, originally with 4.5-6 million.
The city council of Juárez and the Director’s Office of Ecology and Civil Protection helped to establish a program to manage the intake and final disposal of waste tires by partnering with a local private entity (GCC) S.A de C.V., that would co-process tires into its fuel process. The municipality of Juárez established a Collection Center at the Juárez City landfill, 1,101,184 ft² or 102,300 m². In 2007, more than 401,000 tires were received from over 300 local tire companies. Thanks to the Cooperation Agreement in 2007, 680,000 scrap tires were co-processed and since then, more than 2 million.
Currently they are revising the 2009 Goal of co-processing scrap tires and is looking to commit to co-processing approximately 1.8 million tires annually, double the 2007 goal. This will help to ensure the management of the approximately 600,000 incoming scrap tires and the continued reduction of the scrap tire pile between 2009 and 2012.
In November 2007, using the “scrap tires collection program” in Luna County, NM, as a model, teams of teachers and students from Palomas, Ascensión, Chihuahua, Mexico, along with several Border 2012 partners, collected nearly 6,000 discarded tires (more than twice the number originally expected in the Palomas and Ascensión region).
In March of 2007 in Ascension, Chihuahua, 50 secondary students & 5 teachers were trained to use GIS units to inventory scrap tire piles around the town, including the municipal landfill and two clandestine dump sites. About 2500 scrap tires were mapped in the area. Maps that were developed from the GIS workshops, helped clean-up participants locate tire piles. Participants of the event handed out brochures that explained why scrap tires are a public health problem, as well as, to inform residents of the small villages in the area about the cleanup project. The Palomas and Ascension group took advantage of the already signed “Cooperation Agreement” and transported the collected 6,000 tires to the Cementos de Chihuahua plant (GCC) at Samalayuca for their proper disposal.
The plant’s state-of-the-art emissions control equipment will allow the tires to safely fuel cement production, while saving energy. The cleanup was the final event of a project funded by EPA and SEMARNAT, through the Border 2012 Program to reduce the number of scrap tires in the border area. Border 2012 provided funding to the New Mexico- Chihuahua Rural Task Force to locate, collect and transport discarded tires for safe disposal from the rural area. The project included a technical workshop on scrap tire management and disposal options, a scrap tire inventory, and education and outreach about the proper disposal of scrap tires.
Plans developed at the University of Texas, Austin propose to create an action plan to prevent pollution and improve institutional capacity for waste management of used oil in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez area.
New Mexico-Texas-Chihuahua Health
In 2004, EPA allocated funds to develop what will be the first binational tracking network of environmentally related diseases in the U.S.-Mexican border region. A committee with participants from Ciudad Juárez and the New Mexico Department of Health has been developing health survey instruments and bilingual consent forms. The committee is also developing a training plan in Juárez and in Sunland Park, New Mexico for promotoras, people who serve as promoters of good health and hygiene. To refine the survey instruments, ten promotoras in Juárez performed beta testing on 175 houses and have filed 45 reports to date. A preliminary website has been established and is being used by project participants on an intranet basis.
This project provided education on the use and effects of pesticides on 209 farm worker families from Dana Ana, Hidalgo and Luna counties in New Mexico. Outreach materials were developed and 12 promotoras were selected and trained to deliver the education. The project also developed a pre-test and post-test that generated data on how much the target audience knew prior to the education experience, and how much new information was transferred and retained. The post-test was administered in visits to 55 randomly selected homes three to four weeks after the first visit. Program administrators concluded that useful information had indeed been transferred and retained. The Border Environmental Health Coalition received an EPA Grant to fund this project.
New Mexico-Texas-Chihuahua Emergency Prepardness and Response
The Response and Prevention Branch of EPA Region 6 helped to establish sister city plans in the region, which were signed by the cities of Columbus, New Mexico-Palomas, and Chihuahua in November 2002 and Presidio, Texas-Ojinaga, and Chihuahua in February 2004.
Fourteenth border sister city agreement signed under the U.S. EPA Environmental Program Border 2012. On Monday, June 25, 2007, the 14th major sister city agreement was signed between the communities of El Paso, Texas - Municipality of Juarez, Chihuahua -Sunland Park, New Mexico. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and Region 6 Administrator Richard E. Greene were on hand to witness the signing of this event.
Border 2012 Emergency Response Sister City Plan Update Ceremony. On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, a ceremony was held to celebrate the El Paso - Cuidad Juarez - Sunland Park Border 2012 Sister City Plan update to include the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo. The addition of the Pueblo into the sister city plan is the first official Border tribe within Region 6 to be included into a sister city plan, and also the second tribe along the U.S. - Mexico Border Region. Next steps for the group is to update the plan to include a response component, as the plan currently is for communications only.
- Memorandum of Understanding (PDF) (16 pp, 370K) | Acuerdo de Colaboracion (PDF) (15 pp, 370K)
EPA Region 6 sponsored training in the El Paso, Texas- Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua area, and coordinated with local task forces to provide a much-needed course on Hospital Mass Casualty Decontamination. Five major hospitals and two clinics were trained in August 2004. The training also involved the Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs).
New Mexico-Texas-Chihuahua Environmental Stewardship
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