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U.S.-MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM: BORDER 2012
IMPROVING CHILDREN'S HEALTH
SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
VOL. II

CHILDREN MAKE UP APPROXIMATELY ONE THIRD OF THE POPULATION IN THE BORDER. THEY NEED
CLEAN AIR TO BREATHE, CLEAN WATER TO DRINK, SAFE FOOD TO EAT, AND A HEALTHY
ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH TO LEARN, GROW AND THRIVE. YET EVERY DAY THEY ARE EXPOSED TO
ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS THAT MAY STAND IN THE WAY OF THOSE BASIC NECESSITIES. PROTECTING
CHILDREN FROM ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS IS FUNDAMENTAL TO THE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) AND MEXICO'S SECRETARIA DE MEDIO AMBIENTE Y RECURSOS
NATURALES (SEMARNAT), EFFORTS TO MAKE THE WORLD A HEALTHIER PLACE, FOR PRESENT AND

FUTURE GENERATIONS.

Youth help to clean up Arizona-Sonora
border region, tell 11,000 other
students: "Don't Trash La Frontera"

"No contamine/Don't
Trash La Frontera" a

sister cities project
between Yuma County,
Arizona and San Luis Rio
Colorado, Sonora, did
more than just clean up
illegal dumps and educate communities and
schoolchildren about recycling - it got some of
the students actively involved both in cleanups
and spreading awareness.

From the Spring of 2009 through the Spring of
2010, the "Don't Trash La Frontera" project,
implemented by the Regional Center for Border
Health and the Binational Health & Environment
Council, conducted an educational campaign
that raised awareness about recycling and illegal

dumping among 11,886 schoolchildren. The
campaign started with a weeklong effort from
April 4-9 to prevent illegal dumping at El Golfo de
Santa Clara, Sonora, to prevent illegal dumping
during Spring Break there. It continued with 16
additional visits to health fairs and schools. Along
the way, 22 children and teens from schools on
both sides of the border also were part of "Train
the Trainers," a community outreach program to
create a cadre of Promotores de Salud trained in
environmental health education to prevent
environmental contamination and waste
management. The awareness campaign also
distributed flyers, brochures, posters and used
42,000 newspaper inserts.

"Don't Trash La Frontera," funded by the EPA,
the Border Environmental Cooperation
Commission and the Regional Center for Border
Health with a budget of $50,000 USD, also
cleaned up illegal dumps from July through
October 2009. These cleanups collected a total of
176.88 tons of trash and 599 tires from areas in


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U.S.-MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM: BORDER 2012
IMPROVING CHILDREN'S HEALTH VOL II. SEPTEMBER, 2010

San Luis, Ariz., Somerton, Ariz., and Golfo de
Santa Clara. Among the 330 volunteers were 90
children and teens.

With population that has grown about 57 percent
since 2000 reaching 250,000 inhabitants and
with only one designated landfill in San Luis Rio
Colorado, the region has seen the nearby
Sonoran Desert become an illegal dumping
ground. "Don't Trash La Frontera," involving 50-
60 local, state and tribal representatives from
both sides of the border, including children and
youth, became an international alliance to
reduce the trash.

View the new "Fight Clean" TV spot:

http://www.donttrashlafrontera.com/

Promotion.html

Link to additional information:

http://www.donttrashlafrontera.com/

Completion and Inauguration of
Anapra Wastewater Treatment Plant in
Colonia Anapra, Juarez, Chihuahua

On April 14, 2010,
the inauguration of
the Anapra
wastewater
treatment plant
took place in
Colonia Anapra,

Cuidad Juarez,

Chihuahua. As of
January 2010, Colonia Anapra maintains a
population of 29,000 and by 2022 it is expected to
reach 44,000 residents. The plant with costs of
approximately US$6.2 million for construction,
received a total funding from the EPA Border
Environmental Infrastructure Fund (BEIF) of
approximately US$1.6 Million. Other funding
sources included the Junta Central de Agua y
Sanemiento de Chihuahua (JMAS) and Comision
Nacional el Agua (CONAGUA). The Project will
eliminate pollution caused by untreated
wastewater discharges, the risk of underground
water contamination and reduce gastrointestinal
diseases for the inhabitants of the community. In
addition, this plant will reuse the treated
wastewater for irrigation purposes of Anapra for
common areas such as parks.

On hand for the ceremony included the Governor
of the state of Chihuahua, Lie. Jose Reyes Baeza
Terrazas; Director of CONAGUA, Ing. Jose Luis
Luege Tamargo; President of the Junta Municipal
de Agua y Saneamiento de Chihuahua, Ing. Miguel
Angel Jurado Marquez; President of the Junta
Municipal de Agua y Saneamiento de Cd. Juarez,
Ing. Ernesto Mendoza Viveros; US General Consul
of Juarez, Raymond McGrath, and other state and
federal agency representatives. The plant began
operations in May 2010.

Links to additional information:

http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/index.htm


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U.S.-MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM: BORDER 2012
IMPROVING CHILDREN'S HEALTH. SEPTEMBER, 2010

With 2,000 children exposed to diesel
pollution, EHC urges Tijuana officials
to reroute trucks away from schools

Yi
HI

ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH COALITION

Funded by a grant
from the Border
2012 Program, the
San Diego-based
Environmental
Health Coalition is
now armed with
air-quality testing
data to show that particle emissions from diesel
trucks are higher near schools in a Tijuana
colonia, Chilpancingo, than at a control site.

Now, having obtained with a second Border 2012
grant and having toured with the truck-traffic
areas with two Tijuana officials, EHC wants to do
sampling in another Tijuana community and
reduce truck traffic in front of all of the city's
schools to lower exposure to hazardous particles
that have been linked to asthma, cancer and
heart problems.

EHC worked with its
Tijuana community justice
team, the Colectivo
Chilpancingo Pro-Justicia
Ambiental to address
community concerns about
pollution from diesel
trucks driving in front of an elementary school
housing 1,000 students. The Colectivo was
trained and conducted air sampling from
December 2008 through April 2009 at the
elementary school, a Kindergarten, a secondary
school and a control site. (There are another
1,000 students total at the Kindergarten and
secondary school.) The samples, analyzed by
EHC, showed that particle counts ranged from 40
percent higher at the elementary school and up

to 193 percent higher at the secondary school
than at the control site.

Colonia Chilpancingo, founded in 1940 as a
collective community houses over 10,000
residents. About 40,000 laborers work in more
than 100 maquiladoras in the Mesa de Otay
industrial park, Tijuana's largest, where they
assemble electronic, metal, plastic and wood
products. The colonia is adjacent to the park and
less than a mile from the Otay Mesa Port of
Entry, where more 1.4 million trucks cross the
border each year.

In February, EHC hosted two Tijuana
representatives on a tour of the truck-traffic
areas. Relationships have been established with
other Tijua na officials to promote
recommendations about rerouting truck traffic as
a citywide policy. A petition on the issue now has
280 signatures. The project was promoted to
more than 1,000 people during presentations
and tabling events and project updates were
included in EHC newsletters to 4,000 subscribers.

Links to additional information:

http://www.environmentalhealth.org/


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U.S.-MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM: BORDER 2012
IMPROVING CHILDREN'S HEALTH. SEPTEMBER, 2010

Promoting Healthier Environmental
Practices in Ciudad Juarez

In 2008-2009, the EPA Region 6 Border 2012
Program provided a grant to Agua XXI, A.C., for
approximately $20,094 USD, to help improve
public health and promote better hygiene and
environmental practices to border residents
living in colonias surrounding Cuidad Juarez,
Chihuahua. Due to their location within the
border and accelerated growth rate, the colonias
surrounding Cuidad Juarez have become an area
with a variety of environmental public health
concerns due to the in-access of public services.
For example, as of 2008, approximately 7,000
families in 24 low-income colonias obtained their
drinking water from tank trucks due to the in-
access of water and sewage services. A number
of gastrointestinal diseases can result from the
use contaminated water, which may be
contaminated during its transportation or
storage, the lack of good hygiene practices or the
intake of contaminated foods in the home.

The project aims
to improve the
public health of
these border
residents by
educating
residents on
home water
disinfection
techniques, hand washing, hygienic food
preparation, the use of alternative products and
safety precautions for chemicals such as
pesticides (i.e. "Polvo de Avion") or lead that can
still be found to be used in these areas, through a
variety of educational tools, such as public
informational forums, community health
workshops, a puppet show and home health

visits. The project which began in September
2009, has already resulted in 11 information
presentations that have educated 200 adults and
140 children. The project has consisted of 3
puppet theatre presentations of "Teatro Guinol",
capacity building workshops and the distribution
of 550 informational packets consisting of
educational materials such as: brochures,
coloring books and comics, geared towards the
youth and adults within the communities.

Surveys were taken from the public at
informational forums and workshops in order to
measure results. The survey's resulted in a
knowledge increase in pesticide usage of 72
percent and proper home ventilation to prevent
carbon monoxide poisoning by approximately 34
percent. Other stakeholders involved in assisting
this project include the Border 2012 Texas-New
Mexico-Chihuahua Environmental Education Task
Force, the State Commission for Protection
against Sanitary Risks (COESPRIS) and the
University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE

U.S.-MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL
PROGRAM: BORDER 2012, VISIT THE
FOLLOWING WEBSITES:

USEPA:
www.epa.gov/border2012

SEMARNAT
www.semarnat.gob.mx


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