At meetings held among the BECC Managers and NABD Directors and Mexican Congressional Committees of the two houses on the Environment, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs, discussions focused on maintaining a permanent exchange between the BECC and the NABD to allow legislators to adequately address issues concerning the two institutions. Senator Luis H. Alvarez, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment, was in attendance at the meetings.

BECC General Manager Javier Cabrera and Deputy General Manager Peter Silva, as well as Board Directors Arturo Herrera, John Bernal, and Rogelio Ramos attended the meetings. Also present were NABD Directors, Victor Miramontes and Raúl Rodríguez, and Paul Maxwell and Karen Danart from the U.S. Embassy in México.

Mr. Cabrera highlighted the following contributions made by BECC towards the development of environmental infrastructure projects:

1. Community participation programs ensure communities are duly informed on the proposed projects and also consider input on project costs and impacts. Public awareness is fundamental for project support.
2. The BECC Technical Assistance program is important, particularly for the Mexican side. The program facilitates the development of strong projects based on Master Plans and institutional capacity building.
3. "Culture of payment" should be encouraged in communities that benefit from projects, including modification of traditional grant amounts for the projects to ensure their sustainability.
4. Private sector is encouraged to be involved to finance projects.
5. Binationality is apparent in BECC operations, from the Board of Directors and Advisory Council level, to the organizational level where staff from both countries works on both sides of the border.
6. Efforts coordinated among all parties interested in the development of infrastructure projects along the border, such as local and state governments as well as the National Water Commission, the NADB, BANOBRAS, and both sections of the International Boundary & Water Commission.
7. A long term vision that is well founded to ensure a dynamic border to address other areas of concern such as non-hazardous industrial waste, toxic waste, with a focus on potential impacts on the ecosystems.

According to Victor Miramontes, NADB Managing Director, the NADB financing program is working well. He provided specific examples, such as the Cd. Juárez treatment plants, where resources from the two governments had been combined to arrive at joint solutions.

Senator Rosa Albino Garabito, Technical Secretary of the Border Affairs Committee, provided specific remarks on the Mexicali Integral Sanitation project and stated that communities in proximity to the treatment plant must be made aware of the project's impacts.

Congressman Samuel Maldonado, Technical Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies, highlighted several border community concerns. Some of these include the lack of resources as well as insufficient time required for project development and implementation due to the short Administration terms.

Congressman Alejandro Jiménez Taboada, Chairman of the Committee for Ecology and Environment of the Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies, made note of the need to expand community participation to include evaluations and discussions of matters such as toxic waste.

Congresswoman Roselia Barajas, on the same Committee stressed that public participation tended to be incomplete and partisan. She recommended that BECC public processes consider sectors of society that are normally not included.

Lastly, Congressman Lino Cárdenas recommended that the BECC focus on real and possible projects and that it expand its priority list to include other urgent needs.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for construction of the wastewater treatment plants for Cd. Juárez were held on February 9. The Governor of the State of Chihuahua, Francisco Barrio Terrazas, and the Mayor of Juárez, Enrique Flores Almeida, attended the ceremony held at the site where the North plant will be constructed. Among those in attendance were Charles Dupont, Director of Degremont in France; Javier Cabrera and Peter Silva, BECC Managers; Victor Miramontes and Raúl Rodríguez NADB Directors; Angel Beltrán, Chairman of the Project's Citizen Committee; Luc Ducourneau of the French Embassy; as well as officials from BANOBRAS, CNA, the Junta Municipal de Agua y Saneamiento (JMAS), UTEP, and El Paso Water Utilities.

In his comments, José Mateos, JMAS President, stated the event marked the culmination of seven years of work starting with the development of the final design. He stated that "the last two years in particular, when the determination of several players came together to make the project a reality . . .." as a technical and financially strong project. He added that the investment in the plants is the most significant investment made in recent years in the city.

Patrice Keime, Director of Degremont in Mexico described the project's magnitude and presented an 18-month construction period that will use 8,000 cubic meters of concrete, 1,250 tons of cement, 11,000 tons of reinforced steel, and 4,800 cubic meters of sand and gravel. The two plants cover 2,400 cubic meters of construction; capacity at the North plant will be 2.5 cubic meter per second while at the South plant, it will be 1.10 cubic meter per second. The project will require 60,000 manpower days and contracting of 200 employees. According to Mr. Keime, fifty persons will be contracted for the plant's operations.

Adolfo Urías, BECC Project Manager, attended the "Solid Waste Management Conference: Options for Texas", held in Austin on February 4 - 6. The Conference, sponsored by the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC), was held at the University of Texas Campus. Over 300 persons from several regulating and educational agencies and from the private sector attended the conference. The Conference marked the first time the event was open to exhibitors outside from Texas. The experiences shared by persons from other States and countries, such as Gustavo Rosiles from SEDESOL/Mexico, provided different perspectives.

Mr. Urías presented a solid waste diagnostic for the Mexican border and an overview of assistance programs available at the BECC under its Technical Assistance Program for the years 1998-2000. The following points were highlighted in his presentation:

• The majority of Mexican communities lack the infrastructure required for solid waste collection, management, and disposal
• Where services exist, they are more than often inadequate; the equipment is deficient; institutional and administrative systems are absent; and a legal regulatory foundation is also non-existent.
• Only 86 percent of the waste generated is actually collected and only 53 percent is disposed of in adequate sanitation facilities.

Next XV Public Meeting of the Board of Directors will be held at the Airport Marriot Hotel, in El Paso, Texas, next March 31, from 10:00 a.m. to 02:00 p.m. The address is 1600 Airway Blvd., Phone (915) 779 3300.

The US. EPA announces its toll-free number of the EPA Public Information Center: 1 (800) 887-6063.

In accordance with Article I of the BECC Procedures Regarding Public Notice and Comment on Project Applications, the BECC has received a Step I Form for the following projects from September 1997 to February 26, 1998. Please note that this listing does not represent any type of BECC staff recommendation concerning the potential for project certification.

• Ecobosque - San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora. This project (ECOBOSQUE) is divided into three phases: 1) expansion of collection system to cover 90 percent of population; 2) construction of a wastewater treatment plant; and 3) construction of facilities to allow for water reuse for agriculture. Expansion of sewage system, wastewater treatment and water reuse. Total Estimated Cost US$ 17.0 million, Contact H. XXI Ayuntamiento de San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Ing. Florencio Díaz Armenta, Presidente Municipal, Av. Juárez y Calle 4, San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, 83400, Phone: (653) 41150 Ext 101, Fax: 41150 Ext 125. Received 01/20/98.
• El Paso County-East Montana Water System. Construction of a 24" transmission water line, booster pump station, elevated storage tank and a water distribution system that will support 1832 water connections to residents of this area. Total Estimated Cost US$ 15.50 million. Contact County of El Paso, Charles "Chuck" Mattox, County Judge, Rm 301, County Courthouse, 500 E. San Antonio, El Paso, TX, 79901, Received 12/17/97.

• Tecate Binational Wastewater Treatment Project, Tecate, CA. The project would allow wastewater from the US to be treated at the existing WWTP in Tecate, BC . It also considers to place the collection pipes to serve existing development and the County Town of Tecate, CA, and a 8-in line from the international border to an existing 24-in collector in Mexico and a metering station. Total Estimated Cost US$ 1.0 million. Contact Tecate Water District Steering Committee, Mary E. May, Project Manager, Lettieri-McIntyre and Associates, 1551 Fourth Avenue, Suite 430, San Diego, CA., 92101-3152, Phone: (619) 238 4241 Fax: (619) 238 9722. Received 2/17/98.
• Sanitary Landfill in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora. This project is to establish a collection system for solid waste that facilitates the recovery of recyclable materials from the wastestream and the construction of a sanitary landfill that complies with regulatory requirements. Estimated Cost Not available. Contact. H. XXI Ayuntamiento de San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, Major Florencio Díaz Armenta, Av. Juarez y Calle 4, San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, 83400, Phone: (653) 41150 Ext. 101, Fax: 4 11 50 Ext. 125. Received 02/17/98.

• Comprehensive Sanitation of Nuevo Progreso, Tamps. Some final designs for Water Supply, Wastewater collection and Wastewater Treatment are currently available, but it is necessary to develop a Master Plan to consolidate all these actions. Total Estimated Cost Not available. Contact C.E.A.P.A. Quim. Patricia Mendoza Contreras, Directora General, Torre Gubernamental, Lopez Portillo, Cd. Victoria, Phone: (131) 29938. 29938 Fax: (131) 29938. Received 2/18/98.