COLONIAS, THEIR PROBLEM. UTEP’S SOLUTION?

Community Problem Report

Colonias, Their Problem. UTEP’s Solution?

Hector Luis Chavez Moy

University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

April 04, 2018

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Abstract

This paper will talk about the various problems that colonias residents have, and how they affect

their daily living. It will mainly focus on water issues, from daily use, to human consumption,

and how UTEP as an institution, but it’s students as well, may have some direct or indirect

solutions for them.

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Community Problem Report

Colonias, Their Problem. UTEP’s Solution?

Newcomer immigrants from Latin-American countries, looking for a place to settle and

begin a new life, were tricked into buying land without any infrastructure or at least any plans for

it. They were convinced by low prices and easy-to-get credit, and with the hopes and dreams to

build a home, but ended up living in a place, in most cases, without access to safe drinking water,

electricity, paved roads or sewer services, just to mention a few adversities. Texas colonias have

been wrong from the start. Colonias don’t fulfill their purpose at all. UTEP may have some

solutions for them.

Colonias in Texas

Colonias are very low-income settlements of varying size located along the Mexico-US

border, most of them are located in Texas. According to Ramos et al. (2001), There are

approximately 1800 colonias, most of which lack basic water and sewer systems, paved roads

and safe and sanitary housing. The number of residents in Texas border exceeds 500 000, 98 %

of whom are Hispanics. Sixty-five percent of colonia residents, and 85 % of those younger than

18 years, were born in the United States. Although the growth of colonias has created

opportunities, it has also produced environmental health threats and social challenges (p. 1).

In Peter Ward words, colonias area structural problem, compounded by developers’

greed, official neglect, ignorance, poor policy-making and weak administrative capacity,

inadequate laws, and enfeebled social organization and local leadership (p.###).

The living conditions in Latin-American countries are mostly not very favorable, government

corruption have lead the people live in deplorable conditions, according to “Consejo Nacional de

Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social” (CONEVAL), 43.6 % of the population of

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Mexico are considered to be highly poor, adding this to the fact that on 2017 alone, 29,168

people were killed by violence, a number that every year is higher, people are running looking

for a better life. What a better place than the United States of America, but it was almost

impossible to believe that some of the conditions they were leaving behind were about to become

their new reality. Critical issues in colonias are nearly ignored by the government, and residents

are pretty much alone on themselves.

Citing an interview by Maria Esquinca and Andrea Jaramillo, from NEWS21, to colonias

residents, 23 years ago, Olivia Figueroa left the place she was born, in Chihuahua, Mexico,

where she didn’t have basic services, and immigrated to the United States, and ended up living in

another community that lacked basic services as well, in San Elizario, Texas, a colonia near El

Paso, Texas.

Water issues in colonias are probably the most important ones. According to Vlock et al. (2017),

colonias residents have to cope with problems like streets overflowing with sewage from sand-

filled septic tanks, high level of toxic arsenic in their drinking water or roads that flood during

the summer monsoons

UTEP Solutions

Students from different majors may have solutions for specific colonias’ issues, from research to

volunteering. One of the several problems colonias’ residents have to face each day is water, and

all the uses humans have for it. Safe drinking water, water for livestock and irrigation water,

sewer system, and in some areas flooding.

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UTEP students volunteer to help on various things all the time, this paper found an article

explain that research in an arid area of Texas has yielded a statewide rainwater harvesting award

for a group at The University of Texas at El Paso. The Texas Rain Catcher Award promotes

rainwater harvesting, educates the public about the benefits of rainwater harvesting and

recognizes those dedicated to conserving water resources. UTEP was awarded for its work to

reduce the need for the Colonia’s residents, many of whom are elderly, to haul water for their

household needs from Presidio, a small town about 250 miles southeast El Paso. In 2016 UTEP

students made a four hour trip to Las Pampas to install the system that was built to collect 2,200

gallons of water. The water will be used for gardening, landscaping and for livestock use. For

residents, the amount of hauled-water use has been reduced by 50 percent, as shown on image

number 1.

Safe drinking-water is a health concern. As of 2015, an estimate of 30 percent of colonia

residents didn’t have access to safe, clean drinking water, according to the Rural Community

Assistance Partnership, a national nonprofit group.

There is a colonia in Texas where water comes with arsenic at eight times the federal

limit, and statewide the water quality is not better enough. UTEP is currently conducting

research on cleaning drinking water for safe consumption, it is not directly linked to colonias, but

it may be implemented on them. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a

prestigious Engineering Research Center (ERC) grant to a team of leading experts in

nanotechnology and advanced water treatment from The University of Texas at El Paso, Rice

University, Arizona State University, and Yale University toward the development of scientific

advances that will address the world’s urgent demand for clean water through low-cost, energy-

and environmentally friendly methods. Over the next five years, the research group proposes to

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take advantage of the unique properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to remove

contaminants from water. These new systems will be integrated as portable modular units,

assembled according to the pollutants they need to remove from water, whether arsenic, copper,

lead or any other contaminants.

UTEP and its’ students have the opportunity to help colonias residents indirectly, but a case that

is directly applied to colonias is an innovative water project, that aims to develop an affordable

water filter, specifically designed to work on colonias homes, it was a collaboration between

UTEP faculty and graduate students, with a $500,000 grant. Test filters were distributed to

colonias residents on the summer of 2015.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, colonias in Texas have issues that cannot be solved from one day to

another, the most important of them is the water. The government is not doing nearly enough to

solve their issues. UTEP as an institution from the area, is helping on the water issue on different

fronts, directly and indirectly, with student volunteering, and doing research. But it is still not

enough and we, as students have to be more involved in our community.

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Image 1 UTEP Students installing the rainwater harvesting system.

Student volunteers from The University of Texas at El Paso help install a rainwater harvesting
system at a home in the Las Pampas colonia near Presidio, Texas, in this June 2017 photo.

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References

Ramos, I. N., May, M., & Ramos, K. S. (2001). Field action report. environmental health training

of promotoras in colonias along the Texas-Mexico border. American Journal of Public

Health, 91(4), 568-570. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cin20&AN=106925525&s

ite=eds-live&scope=site

UC Staff. (2018, March, 21, 2018). UTEP earns Texas rain catcher award for rainwater

harvesting system. Retrieved from https://www.utep.edu/newsfeed/campus/utep-will-

receive-texas-rain-catcher-award-for-rainwater-harvesting-system-installation-in-

colonia.html

Vlock, D. C. (2017). On the Texas border, building infrastructure is hard. critics say it's about to

get harder. Retrieved from http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-

infrastructure/gov-texas-colonias-border-infrastructure.html

Ward, P. M. (2010). Colonias and public policy in Texas and Mexico: Urbanization by

stealth University of Texas Press.

CONEVAL (2016). Medición de la pobreza en México.

https://www.coneval.org.mx/Medicion/Paginas/PobrezaInicio.aspx

Esquinca, M., & Jaramillo, A. (2017, ). Colonias on the border struggle with decades-old water

issues. The Texas Tribune Retrieved

from https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/22/colonias-border-struggle-decades-old-

water-issues/

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Borderzine Staff. (2015, UTEP researchers developing water filter to help colonias. Retrieved

from http://borderzine.com/2015/06/utep-researchers-developing-water-filter-to-help-

colonias/