The United States and Mexico share a 2000-miles border stretching from the Golf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. The border region is shared by ten states, wetlands, numerous mountain ranges, canyons, rivers and deserts. The U.S.-Mexico border is “Situated between a developed nation and a developing one, the U.S. -Mexico Border Region is a formally defined transnational region of land. The region extends approximately 2,000 miles along the full length of the international boundary, 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) north and south of the border and 62.5 miles into the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.” The economic, political and social changes continue reshaping the relationship between the two nations and provide direct and indirect prosperity to communities along the border, and across the country. However, despite these opportunities the border region is confronted with many environmental issues including environmental degradation that affects air, water, and soil quality along the Rio Grande River. The environmental degradation results in destruction of ecosystems by human activities.
Due to the limited scope of this paper only some of the environmental issues along the Rio Grande River will be identified specifically, rapid population growth, growth of industries, air pollution, grand and surface water quality, ecosystems, deforestation, and the Rio Grande water quality.
The Rio Grande River, or Río Bravo as it is called in Mexico is the natural boundary between the U.S. and Mexico from El Paso, TX, to Brownsville, TX, however, the Rio Grand River no longer flows naturally as the extensive networks of diversions and dams control the natural flow of the river. “The Amistad International Dam, built jointly by the U.S. and Mexico...
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Souers, Amy and Peter Kelly. 200. ?Rio Grandee listed among Nation?s Most Endangered Rivers.? American Rivers. Search." Accessed December 2, 2013.
Telephone interview, Kenneth N. Rakestraw, chief, Water Accounting Division, International Boundary and Water Commission, Austin, Texas, May 6, 1998. Google Search." Accessed December 1, 2013.
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Watershed Management Division Regional assessment of water quality in the Rio Grande Basin Austin, TX. 1994. Search." Accessed December 3, 2013.
United States Environmental Protection Agency and Secretar_a de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales. State of the border region 2010. Border 2012: U.S.?Mexico Environmental Program. Indicators Report; 2011. Accessed December 2, 2013.
After the Roosevelt Dam dammed the Salt River in 1911, the bed that formed in its place has become a garbage-infested hole stretching through a large potion of the valley. In 1966 a group of architecture students at ASU first proposed the idea of the Rio Salado Project to a community-wide audience. It was approved by the legislature in 1980 and extensive planning has been underway since. The project will take 26 miles of the dry river bed, fill it in with purified wastewater, and make it into a 7,000-acre park over the next 2 decades (Rio Salado Development District 1).
From Davenport it meanders South to St. Louis, where it is joined by the Missouri. It then flows South-East, to be joined by the Ohio. It then flows 400 km before being met by the Arkansas river. It then flows South through Louisiana, to the Gulf of Mexico, where it splits into the many distributaries of its delta.
Then it flows in a generally southerly direction and forms the boundary between Arizona and the states on Nevada and California. Near Yuma, Arizona, the river crosses the international border into Mexico and flows for about 145km (90 miles) to its mouth on the Gulf of California. The River Colorado drains parts of 7 states, a total area in Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and California, of about 626,800sq km. What controls / how have people controlled the flow ?
What is the difference between a. and a. Five Year Review of Tar Creek Superfund Sites. Ottawa County, Oklahoma; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6: Dallas, TX, 1994. 12. What is the difference between a.. Cates, D.; Technical Report After Action Monitoring of the Roubidoux Aquifer at the Tar Creek Superfund Site. EPA Cooperative Agreement #V-006449-01-N. U.S. Department of Environmental Quality: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 2006.
The state of Texas faces several issues year round. The state and government agencies pursue to find solutions for these problems. One of the solutions is to finish the border wall to prevent this from happening. Since Texas borders with Mexico one of the main issues it faces is immigration and the trafficking of drugs. The borders along the south side of Texas are an easy pathway to get the immigrants and drugs into the country.
Martinez, Oscar J. U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1996 (pp. 139-141).
Texas has a total land area of 261,914 square miles- making it the second largest state in the United States. Combined with a diverse geography, Texas has one of the most varied climates of any state. As the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases year by year, causing an increase in the Earth’s average overall temperature, changes in our climate are inevitable. We will investigate how those changes will affect the life of the everyday Texan - from our water resources, to our cities and why they are important issues that need to be addressed by our society.
When we hear discussions or read articles about drug wars, killings, and illegal immigration into the United States, many of us immediately think of Mexico. As a nation, Mexico is a much greater country than these commonly referred to issues. Mexico is a country with a broad history, deep family culture, and an economy fueled by oil and tourism. The United States Department of State (USDS) offers a broad range of information on countries outside the US, including Mexico. I found a wealth of information about Mexico through the USDS Background Note provided on their website located at www.state.gov. I will outline for you the key information found in this report, and others, related to the Mexican economy, culture, and more.
Balancing Border Enforcement and Environmental Protection (sidebar)." (2001, July 27). Issues & Controversies On File. Retrieved May 2, 2012, from Issues & Controversies database
Mexico is boarded by the United States of America, Belize and Guatemala. Mexico has a very diverse landscape of mountains, plateaus, deserts, tropical jungles, and even beautiful Palm beaches. With its diverse climate, Mexico also has a diverse population of plants. In desert areas, the most common plants that are found include cac...
the entire U.S. The Border Patrol is a multi-task law enforcement body that has served Del Rio since July, 1, 1924” (Border Security along Borders, web). The flow of illegal aliens across the Rio Grande River provides a challenge to the Border Patrol agents assigned to the area. The absence of man-made barricades to control the points of entry gives illegal aliens and smugglers of aliens and narcotics the passage of crossing virtually any place along the 210 miles of border with Mexico.
Caused by climate change and urbanization, water shortages are a major concern of the Mexican government at both the local and federal level. Mexico City, the third largest city in the world with more than twenty million inhabitants, struggles with water scarcity because of the potential risk it poses to the wellbeing of its citizens. Similar to the situation in other megacities, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, Mexico City’s water supplies are being depleted because of a growing urban population. (CBC News , 2009 ) Unable to sufficiently supply the increasing population size of the city, the water in the Mexico Valley aquifer is being drawn out faster than the aquifer’s recharge rate. Exacerbated by the fragmented nature of Mexico’s political culture, the exploitation of Mexico City’s water resources due to a growing urban population is detrimentally degrading the environment and creating a self-perpetuating problem that places the city and its inhabitants at risk.
Schueler, Thomas R. "Microbes and Urban Watersheds: Concentrations, Sources, & Pathways." Reprinted in The Practice of Watershed Protection. 2000. Center for Watershed Protection. Ellicott City, MD.
Smith, Zachary A., and Grenetta Thomassey. Freshwater Issues: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002. Print
Rogers, Peter. 2008. "Facing the Freshwater CRISIS. (Cover story)." Scientific American 299, no. 2: 46-53. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2010).