Environmental Progress - Summer 1998

Illinois EPA Continues Exchanges With Mexican State

Information exchanges continuing under Environmental Cooperation Agreement

Literal mountains of garbage, lung-searing smog, drinking water and sewage treatment that range from state-of-the-art to nonexistent -- these are among environmental problems being tackled by Mexican environmental authorities, with help from the Illinois EPA.

Nick Mahlandt, left, and Bill Child, right, talk with their guide about water quality problems. The stream in the background is the Rio Lerma.

A five-member delegation from the Agency visited Mexico Feb 16-20 under the Environmental Cooperation Agreement signed last year by Gov. Jim Edgar and Gov. Cesar Camacho of the State of Mexico. Martha Garciarivas, head of the Department of Ecology for the State of Mexico, led a delegation to Chicago last fall to gather information on issues of critical interest for residents of her state. The February trip was the latest in an ongoing exchange of expertise.

Bill Child, chief of the Illinois EPA's Bureau of Land (BOL), led the February delegation to assess projects involving landfill issues, vehicle emissions testing programs and wastewater treatment in the Mexican state. Joining Child in the delegation were Hernando Albarracin (BOL); Jim Matheny, Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (VIM); Nick Mahlandt, Bureau of Water (BOW) Collinsville; and Naomi Greene, Office of Public Information. Coordination of the various exchanges was handled by Kevin Greene, manager of the Office of Pollution Prevention.

While many problems are common to both Illinois and the Mexican state, some of the difficulties the Illinois EPA delegation saw had unique aspects. Outside Mexico City, garbage dumped in one location has built up a virtual mountain over at least 20 years, with no attempts either to cover it, as required on a daily basis in Illinois, or to contain and control the leachate draining from the site. Scavengers flock through the rubbish daily, dodging trucks and equipment and "herds" of dogs, Child said, adding "a lot of dogs are a pack, but there are so many dogs there, they have to be called a herd." Ironically, the biggest problem to dealing with the region's solid waste, Child said, isn't construction of new, properly run landfills. It will be the actual process of getting the garbage to the landfill. "There are whole areas with no alleys and no streets big enough to accommodate garbage trucks. Houses rise solidly up the sides of hills---I saw one woman on her roof just dropping her trash down onto the roof of the next house. They are obtaining funding to build new landfills, but I don't know how they're going to deal with the collection problem." A partial solution, he feels, may be the large pool of available inexpensive labor; as a last resort, garbage could be collected by hand where trucks can't maneuver.

Air quality problems in Mexico City are world-class, in part because of the geography of the region which makes air movement sluggish. "In Chicago," Matheny said, "we talk about ozone exceedences two or three days a year. In Mexico City, they exceed the ozone standard more than 300 days a year."

Illinois staffers inspect a vehicle testing station near Mexico City.

The State of Mexico has begun a VIM program using state-of-the-art equipment for cars and pickup trucks, he said, and is looking at expanding the program to include trucks, and requiring reformulated gasoline. Passenger cars are tested twice a year to obtain stickers that may only allow them to operate on the streets a specified number of days each week.

Mahlandt said treatment of wastewater ranges from "the best to a non-existent worst." The delegation visited up-to-date plants the equal of any he inspects in his section of Illinois, and saw other areas where untreated waste spewed from large diameter pipes into a channelized stream containing nothing but raw sewage. There are plans to construct sewers in several areas, he said, but "constructing sewers won't be enough, unless they are routed to a treatment facility." He cited a large industrial park with more than 300 businesses, where only 132 of the businesses were connected to the park's waste treatment plant.

An additional exchange of expertise is expected to help Illinois' Mexico sister state develop operating strategies and private contracts, possibly with Illinois businesses.