Members of the Broad Environmental Front of the North (FAAN) at a meeting in Ciudad Juárez earlier this year. (Photo by Kent Paterson)
Degraded by over-pumping, pollution and more, the Rio Grande as it runs through the U.S.-Mexican border region has long been a focal point of ecological crisis. But the consequences—persistent water deficits, poor water quality and habitat destruction—are increasingly spurring citizen action, particularly on the Mexican side of the border. A recent catalyst was the prolonged discharge last year of untreated wastewater into the Rio Grande near the border of El Paso, Texas, and Sunland Park, New Mexico. (See "El Paso discharges point up border infrastructure needs" —EcoAméricas, September 2021.) The rupture of an obsolete sewer main operated by the local utility, El Paso Water (EPW), sent raw sewage flowing downriver past neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, from Aug. 2021 to Jan. 2022. Ciudad Juárez residents were appalled by the stench and discolored water streaming by... [Log in to read more]
