1.) The Commission now plans, constructs, and operates several wastewater treatment plants and projects on both sides of the border. These unmet needs are particularly acute on the Mexican side of the border, where the basic infrastructure is generally insufficient and sometimes nonexistent for connecting outlying communities to services for municipal sewage collection, wastewater treatment, and solid waste disposal. The colonias, however, have many unmet environmental infrastructure needs, and some other communities need to expand or upgrade the capacity of their existing infrastructure to meet the ever-increasing demand from population and industrial growth. 2.) According to officials from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, most border communities in Texas have adequate capacity to meet their solid waste disposal needs for at least the next 10 years. Communities on both sides of the border often lack the experience in planning, constructing, and operating public works projects as well as the financial and administrative ability to raise capital and to repay debt. This program will build upon efforts taken under EPA’s Integrated Environmental Plan for the Mexican-U.S. Border Area (First Stage, 1992-1994) to improve environmental conditions in the border region. We also traveled extensively in the U.S.-Mexican border region. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Concerned about the efforts of the United States and Mexico to address environmental infrastructure needs in the border region, the Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Commerce asked us to examine (1) the U.S.-Mexican border region’s current and projected unmet needs for environmental infrastructure, (2) the financial and institutional challenges each country faces in addressing present and future environmental infrastructure needs, and (3) the way in which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified and prioritized funding for environmental problems along the U.S.-Mexican border. A recorded menu will provide information on how to obtain these lists.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO provided information on the U.S.-Mexican border region's unmet environmental infrastructure needs, focusing on: (1) the financial and institutional challenges facing the United States and Mexico; and (2) how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies and prioritizes funding for environmental problems along the U.S.-Mexican border.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) many environmental infrastructure needs remain unmet on both sides of the border; (2) these needs are particularly acute on the Mexican side of the border, where the basic infrastructure is ill equipped to handle sewage collection, wastewater treatment, and solid waste disposal; (3) some Mexican communities need to expand the capacity of their infrastructure to meet ever-increasing population demands and industrial growth; (4) the Mexican border region has the capacity to treat 34 percent of its wastewater; (5) the border communities in Texas have the capacity to meet their solid waste disposal needs for at least 10 years; (6) EPA has spent approximately $520 million to help address pollution problems along the U.S.-Mexican border, but it has not developed agencywide criteria to ensure that its resources target the region's highest-priority needs; (7) communities on both sides of the border lack experience in planning public works projects, as well as the financial capacity to fund these projects; (8) the North American Development Bank provides financing for environmental infrastructure projects by securing equity, grants, and other sources of funding on a project-by-project basis; and (9) the Border XXI Program provides information on how to improve environmental conditions along the U.S.-Mexican border, develop environmental indicators, expand public participation, and address environmental health concerns.