£ 33 \ o PR0^° SEMARNAT 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 ------- Page 2 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 ------- Page 3 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/ ------- Page 4 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 ------- |