Summary: Despite binational, federal, state, and local efforts, communities along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border continue to face environmental infrastructure problems. According to a 1999 assessment, 12 percent of the border population lack access to potable water, 30 percent lack access to wastewater treatment facilities, and 25 percent lack access to solid waste disposal facilities. An estimated $3.2 billion is needed to correct these infrastructure deficiencies on both sides of the border; about 77 percent of this amount is needed for wastewater treatment. Since 1994, the United State and Mexico have provided about $3.1 billion to address border environmental infrastructure needs. The United States has contributed about 80 percent of this amount. Many barriers exist to overcoming the environmental infrastructure problems of border communities, key among them the lack of human capital to plan, implement, and maintain environmental infrastructure and the limited ability of communities to obtain affordable financing to build needed projects. The Border Environmental Cooperation Commission and the North American Development Bank were created to address these impediments. However, these organization's roles, particularly the Bank's, are likely to continue to be limited unless there are changes in its loan rates, which have been unattractive or unaffordable for many border communities. Moreover, binational efforts to deal with communities' needs are hampered by a lack of a strategic plan that addresses impediments. Given the current infrastructure needs and the expected population growth, infrastructure improvements along the border are likely to be limited unless some of the key impediments are addressed.
