Rio Bravo del Norte. 11,043
“There are 2 ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by sword, the other is by debt.” John Adams
Thank you for visiting our class! We are eager to learn about water, rivers, and ecosystems. We have some questions for you. Here they are! Thanks again! Oh, just a reminder: we’re in 7th grade so please use words we get. Thank you, Laredo Water Commissioner!
QUESTION: The river outside our school- called “The Great River” and “The Brave River” for centuries- is now termed “The Forgotten River.” Is that because the 24th longest river in the world, 5th longest in America, is now a skinny, couple-feet-deep stream? We know that the Rio Bravo appeared for the first time on a map drawn by a Spanish cartographer during 1835-36, so we were wondering what happened in the meantime to cause American Rivers to list the Rio Grande/Rio Conchos system as the most endangered rivers in the country and the World Wildlife Fund to name it one of the world’s top 10 rivers at risk? Could it be the fact it’s one of the most impacted rivers due to water quality and water quantity, elevated salinity, bacteria, metals, pesticides, herbicides, and organic solvents, nonnative species, urban development, wastewater effluent, water extraction, nonpoint-source pollution, nonnative species, impoundments, mining industrial and municipal wastes seeping into the water from both sides of the Mexican/U.S. border? If so, what are you doing to clean it up then keep it clean? It makes us sad and angry. Thanks. No, please sit back down, sir. We have questions to get to. These many questions, as you add them up, will begin to tell a single story. Retelling it becomes an ancient scroll of words. They need spoken.
QUESTION: About buying up water rights when it makes corporations richer yet doesn’t help people? And how the Bush administration encouraged the privatization trend, saying the water systems “cannot expect to get all the dollars they need from Washington”? We wanted to ask what’s more important than water, and who the ones are who can reasonably “expect” to “get all the dollars they need”? What are they spending it “all” on? Candy? The buyout of local water service providers by foreign multinational corporations is a threat on many levels, not the least of which is once a water utility is in private hands, it can become subject to the laws of international trade, leaving our government open to trade disputes in the future. It’s well known that citizens and city authorities have had difficulty accessing technical, operational, and financial information on their communities’ water systems. So you must be aware in many cases changes to water-quality testing and standards and improvements to environmental regulations have been nearly impossible due to contracts with private companies. Bolivia, Argentina, the Philippines, South Africa all have seen drastic rate increases- as much as 700 percent- and their city’s wastewater dumped directly into rivers. Thousands upon thousands were cut off who could not afford to pay after a British company and Bech-HELL took over water systems. So we want to know why Laredo turned over control of its water and wastewater systems to the private multinational company United Water- a subsidiary of the multibillion-dollar French conglomerate Suez- which already provides water and wastewater services to 7.5 million people in 17 states, especially when they have a track record of questionable performance on billing, staffing levels, meter installations, record keeping and timely responses to water line breaks, leaks and emergency responses. Wouldn’t you say it’s counterintuitive- or just plain estupido- to privatize when United Water has so many troubles with utility services and operations, high water and sewer rates and not complying with its contracts? Is on probation in Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Camden, N.J., Ohio and Atlanta after their request for an additional $80 million for unanticipated costs and was the star of US News and World Report’s lead story, “The Coming Water Crisis,” showing a full-page photo of brown Atlanta tap water? Do you know about the 500-page report detailing the city’s complaints, complete with photos and documents backing up the city’s concerns? The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ extensive report, as well? Yet we read, “… we can’t overlook the positive spirits of a City Council glowing in confidence that privatization is the answer to Laredo’s immediate and future water needs.” Sir, we were wondering if the glow was connected to how much bucks they’re getting paid over their regular salary to accept such a disingenuous plan that will further batter the already beleaguered and desperately thirsty common folk of Laredo? Graft? What passes through the hands here? We thought maybe the 80 million went to the city council in Laredo? Could we instead use the 80 million for water line reconnection tools at Walgreens? We could put them in people’s mailboxes who have had their water shut off? Oh, they don’t have mailboxes either? No numbered street addresses? Our bad. Maybe our next visitor could be someone from USPS?
QUESTION: We’d like an update on Maribel Rodriguez’ nine-year dispute with the city and United Water over her $25,000 water bill, and how she has had no running water the last three years. Sorry, what? Oh, like many Laredoans, her family bathes, cooks and washes dishes from water collected at a neighbor’s house in 32-gallon trashcans. Can you tell us how and why the city increased the balance on Maribel’s water bill from $751 in 1997 to $16,221 that same year and finally to $24,110 in August 2002? Did a ghost in the computer pick her account and raise it? Did you know her 14 month old child wound up in the hospital? Yes, a bacterial mouth infection caused by bottles Maribel was unable to clean or disinfect properly. And repeat fevers. And leg and back pain suffered by her 8-year-old daughter from improperly lifting a two-quart container to bathe, and that insects are collecting and exhibiting themselves “all over the family restroom,” which she says fly out in droves whenever the toilet lid is uncovered? That Maribel’s three children and other family members have sores on their bodies caused by these insects? We think that’s gross. We don’t want to go to lunch after this anymore. We heard people called “opposing counsel” – Assistant City Attorney Anthony McGettrick and United Water Laredo attorney Cameron Cooke – “countered” it was impossible to prove the problems were related to the lack of running water. The part about the attorneys? We were wondering what else could have caused the infection, back pain, and bug infestation, if not the city having shut off and plain stolen their running water? Could it be the same ghost that increased these charges to arrive at the current $24,110 water bill, the highest outstanding in the city by far? If so, should we have a ghost buster force here in Laredo? How is it she has to pay the outstanding amount, otherwise the city will not authorize the water reconnection? Do you have 25k sitting around you could lend her, perhaps at the higher interest rates afforded people who don’t have your shade of skin? We were wondering if you have access to public records to see she filed for bankruptcy to save her house or are you too busy mixing war paint? That her husband, who is disabled, has been incarcerated for a year and a half and her brother Marcos, who lives with her, is also disabled and receives SSI for back injuries sustained while picking crops in the field? Her mother lives on a Social Security check, while Maribel depends on Supplemental Security Income for a disability she got in a childhood car accident? Did you know the nice Laredo city councilman Johnny Amaya advised her to purchase certain tools to reconnect the water pipes, but told her not to get caught? That on the stand in front of the entire city, after placing her right hand on the bible, Maribel said she knew it was wrong, a truly dark last resort act to make the illegal connection but needed running water because she had just had her third child and did not want to risk infection from lack of cleanliness? Did you know a 3 day old fetus is 97% water? We think she’s more honest and responsible than those “opposing council” people! Did you know Maribel is suing the city for breach of contract, unconscionability, repudiation of the agreement, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, private nuisance and public nuisance? We like the part about the “unconscionability” –we don’t know the meaning- it’s a big word- but we’re hearing it more and more on the streets. Is it like shit? Lastly, we heard even if Rodriguez wins the lawsuit against the city, the city would not be forced to reconnect the water, claiming it has no “legal basis or authority” to do so. Is this true and if so, what in the world? Or is that out of the world? If so, is that the ghost, too? Could you turn the lights up higher? We’re getting scared. Thanks. And one more thing, really, it’s the last: with all the federal bailouts, we were wondering if you could just put an LLC after Maribel’s last name so she could be a corporation and get her water line back?
QUESTION: Speaking of giving back water, that whole escalated into an international standoff thing? We can see on the Rio Grande Cam Mexico is on the left and the US is on the right but which side is the river on? Isn’t it on both? So why is there a treaty? Don’t you think that no water treaty can demand a country to deliver water that doesn’t exist? “In all, the changes that have been instituted along the river have contributed to a controlled and restricted waterway. As such, with these changes over the last 50 years, the Rio Grande river can no longer be truly considered a “naturally flowing river”. How, in your right mind, can you then assume the river will act as it naturally should after you have confined it? Hello, aggradation? Silting and clogging of the river channel? Drainage ditches, diversion channels, and concrete arroyos, along with the drilling of numerous industrial and municipal wells? Don’t you have it on your maps that the river’s gone from braided and sinuous to flowing in a single channel within the last hundred years? And that the Rio Grande Water Rights Association said Mexico was not releasing water because there was none to release? “Suspicions are so great on the American side that officials talk of infrared satellite images showing water in Mexican reservoirs.” Would that qualify as a specialized form of hydro-hoarding-paranoia? Don’t you agree that infuriating American farmers is a form of propaganda obscuring the real issue: profit, and the problem here is money? That, after all, the Rio Grande issue is not indigenous to Mexico, because the CIA predicts by 2015 drinking-water-access could be a major source of world conflict? Mexico disputes it owes water and says it is in compliance with the treaty. Wouldn’t you say it’s closer to fact that dams are practically empty because they have lost 81 percent of their storage capacity? You know how the waters of the Rio Grande are over-appropriated, that there are more users for the water than there is water in the river, that it provides daily water for over 5 million people, drains a land mass of 172,000 square miles and 3 million acres are irrigated by the Rio Grande- but for the river nothing- and Mexico has a population of 107 million that is projected to reach 140 million by 2050- yet the 1944 U.S.-Mexico water treaty requires Mexico release to the U.S. a portion of water regardless of how much the country needs for its own uses? Mexico is to release an annual average of 350,000 acre-feet, about 114 billion gallons of water, in cycles of five years to the United States. Don’t you think an acre-foot of water- the amount of irrigation water it takes to cover one acre to a depth of one foot- equaling about 326,000 gallons- is kind of a lot considering the problem is a severe drought that requires more water to be stopped and stored in Mexico’s own reservoirs instead of being released into the Rio Grande? Because the biggest reservoir on the Rio Conchos is only 25 percent full, while another is at 10 percent? You say Mexico has fallen more than 1.5 million acre-feet of water in arrears and the U.S. says Mexico owes the United States 500 billion gallons of water under the treaty. We learned in history that the treaty reads the only reasons Mexico cannot release the water to the United States is a severe drought or the country’s hydraulic equipment breaks down. “Claims have been made that while Texas and Mexico have undergone tremendous droughts in the last few years, reservoirs within New Mexico have been full to the point of overflowing because of above average snowfall in the state and in Colorado.” If people upstream use more water, those downstream will get less; we think America has enough water, don’t you? Yes, we heard something called the “adjudication process” is a slow one but other processes are too like dying of dehydration. Did you know that can be slow too? Is slowness an adequate excuse? It’s something that really needs to be addressed and needs to be addressed now, because our river is only 1/20 the volume of that of the Colorado River, and less than 1/100 of that of the Mississippi River and we can’t make it bigger by pouring water from our Dixie cups into it as much as we try at recess. We think a follow-up agreement- known as a minute order- to deal with circumstances that have changed since the treaty was written is a fair remedy. Kind of like sharing at the water fountain, not hogging all the water. Do you think it’s realistic that in 1944 anyone had a crystal ball to changes in the new millennium the same as our founding fathers, when the Constitution was written, foresaw climatological conditions centuries away, or foresaw the Patriot Act addition, that giant birds could be flown into buildings far taller than the white men doing the Constitution using quill pens sitting around a table in Philly? Yes, we’re aware “doing” isn’t a verb that is in correct usage in the sentence. Please forgive us. We do try our best. Maybe if you tag on an additional 25k in interest to Maribel’s bill that grammar nono will never happen again. Oh, please do! Do wop. Shooby do. Yes, we have band here at the school. Maribel is our teacher for that, too! Ms. Rodriguez has two jobs just to pay her water bill for the rest of her life and into the next! Trabajo, trabajo! Speaking of work, have you asked the Rio Grande what it thinks or feels about giving water only to people with enough pesos in their hot hands? Did you consider the river seems to be holding its breath instead of letting you rape it further? And that’s why the 1944 treaty is not worth the paper its written on? You can’t push something down farther than it will go. And speaking of treaties, what about US deficit that’s now 1 trillion? (REVISE to ///? How Mexico would help the us in a time of crisisGOOGLE THIS.) We wanted to ask if you could concede the way you’re circling them down there in the Estados Unidos Mexicanos isn’t a lot like how a vulture does its dead and dying prey. No, sir, it was more a statement than a question. Did you know 145 nations share international river basins- that’s 270 (& counting!) rivers that either cross or demarcate international political boundaries, in addition to countless aquifers- and that a panel of experts who studied Rio Grande water issues said “water conflicts should be considered as important to national security as oil,” but fell short of offering a solution for the United States’ ongoing water dispute with Mexico? Have you heard of a place called Darfur? Water shortage. We learned in Political Science that the agent vibrio cholerae- a gram-negative comma-shaped rod- would serve as an effective biological weapon if the organisms were used to contaminate a large supply of drinking water. (revise Can you speak on why– Intercontinental icbm mills of miles but a 4yr old child on our own soil) than to send a bomb a ginormous distance to kill other 4 years olds who also don’t have enough water? We’re thinking your spatial-temporal reasoning needs some gingko? Why is it officials from both countries can’t come up with something? Isn’t it very important both administrations put water management on the policy agenda? That would go a long way for U.S.-Mexican relations, okay, Jose? We’re just sayin’.
QUESTION: Oh, and as a sidenote, while we’re on international relations, we were wondering if you will now stop referring to us as wet backs since our backs no longer get wet when we go to the United States because the river isn’t there at the border anymore? We were wondering if you knew now we just walk across the sand, not doggie paddle over it? So kindly call us dry backs. Thanks. Yes, we’re familiar with the fact that for thousands of years our water flowed into the Gulf of Mexico but now falls almost a hundred yards short of the Gulf. It looks like someone stirred it around where it goes into the sand there and stops. Do you know what “quicksand” is? Just wondering. A person who steps into a bed of quicksand can sink very fast into the loose, weak ground. We’d like to take this opportunity to remind you being Hispanic and being an American are not mutually exclusive terms. Also, and we hope you don’t think us pedantic, commissioner (yes, thank you, our English is good, Maribel Rodriquez is our after- school tutor, too! being a water refugee is a 24/7 position), but ”Non-Hispanic Americans have traditionally failed to pronounce the final “E” in “Grande”, but they’ve learned to do it to designate the large size of latte, so perhaps it’s time to start saying it the proper Spanish way: “REE-oh GRAHN-day.” Also, Rio is Spanish for “river,” so “Rio Grande River” is redundant. Just say and write “Rio Grande”, not the river part after it, thanks. And please- the towns? Colonias? Marking out the margin of the land that determine where ‘they’ can or cannot be? Capitalize the “C” in colonias- as you know, we’re not within city borders, so municipalities thereby evade responsibility to provide us equal services; nonetheless, we insist we are owed this grammar decency and do prefer to feel part of the country, for we are U.S. citizens and take pride in our little desert sand and shrub cinder block towns, however disease ridden Third World- misery- inducing, patheticly- low- class- status- an- excuse for human habitation they seem to you from your disparaging remarks and policies toward any small people who can fit in a river. What? Oh, the picture on the wall above is a crayon rendering of us in the background here in Texas, a rich collage of earth tones made up of distorted and screaming faces in the Colonias. We’re glad you enjoy it. We’ll sign it for you before you leave if you like! Are you thirsty, water commissioner, the way your mouth is pinched up around your perfect snare-white teeth? You have the sickened look. Is our line of questioning making you dry-mouthed? Would you like a glass of water pumped from our meter reader in the Colonias? We think we have 10 pesos worth left. That should net you 1/8 of a Dixie cup. No? Alright then, how about –. What? Oh, you need the men’s room? Sorry sir, we have no men’s room. We’re what you call hydrologically challenged, or hydrologically disposed. And our bladders rarely hold enough pee to need to empty. We’re one of the over 2.5 billion people who don’t have a toilet or latrine. But there is a little dugout in back of our school where you can go squat. Do you practice good personal hygiene, including frequent handwashing? A single piece of feces contains 1,000,000,000,000 viruses and 10,000,000 bacteria. Please don’t bring back parasite eggs that can hatch then lodge in our brain like tapeworms love to do. They’re looking for fresh water, too. Out back, no hay agua, solamente tierra. Here’s some napkins to plug up your nostrils when you get back there. They say United Water from the Christmas party Maribel catered. Notice the cruise ship sailing into Acapulco’s dock, the water-rat children diving for coins passengers their own age toss past their heads and laugh. Yes, we learned to duck and dive in gym. Our curriculum is practical! Maribel designed it. Now don’t turn chicken tail home! Come back as soon as you’re done; we have a dozen questions left!
QUESTION: In Geography and Health class, we study different areas of the world. Do you have anything to add to a new statistic we learned this week? We were thrilled our area was included in it! “More than a billion people in shantytowns and remote villages across the poor world have no access to reliably clean drinking water. Most are in sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia. And inhabitants of colonias on the U.S. side of the Mexican border.” Did you know about our very own cholera cases? Salmonellosis, shingellosis, ambebiasis, hepatitis A and B, measles, rubella, whooping cough, tetanus, diptheria, polio, Hemophilis influenza type B, influenza, and cholera. Tuberculosis, too! 450, 000 Texans live in Colonias so we’ll be making the cholera news more often! We have a cure, though, from History class: it’s called nejayote; Texas invented it in 1833: “One slice of peyote, one finger in width and two fingers in length is allowed to boil one cup of water. The liquid is then strained. To this liquid is added as much purified slaked lime as will be held on a silver real. It should then be stirred and drunk. If symptoms are not lessened within a half hour, the dose must be repeated. A light concoction of tea or orange leaves, with six drops of laudanum, must then be given every two hours. If cramps are experienced, the parts of the body thus affected must be rubbed with a woolen cloth. The foregoing method is so soothing that any form of relief will be sufficient to effect a cure.” Would you like some before you leave as a preventative measure? Maribel swears by it.
QUESTION: We should get to the meters! We’re really looking forward to this part of the Q&A! Why do social justice advocates oppose prepaid water meters? We were just wondering how you can put a price on violating a human right, because, as everyone knows, prepaid water meters are used to turn water provision into a profit-making exercise instead of a social good that must be provided for all. Prepaid meters are attached to previously free communal taps. Did you know human habitation here dates back 12,000 years to the Clovis culture of the Paleo-Indians? That the Middle Rio Grande basin is one of the oldest areas of habitation in the United States and one of the oldest areas of agriculture use; farming has been carried on in this area for centuries, dating back to the basket-maker cultures of the pre-Pueblo Indians over one thousand years ago? So who are you to come along after over ten full centuries to hand out at nine bucks a pop fist-sized plasticicized cards in order that another human being may even live another three days? A person can live weeks without food, but mere days without water. This redraws the boundaries of human experience. Meters are an act of man, not an act of God. If you disagree does that mean you really believe you are God? If so, who died and made you God? Water is a right, not a privilege; water is not a want, it’s a need. No one has the right to appropriate water for personal profit. Despite management savings prepaid water is provided at a higher rate for users compared to a traditional billing and metering system. This crime- meter readers- is a whole new dimension that shows us to what lengths people will go for financial gain. Have you ever used one of those plastic cards? You insert it in a large meter box and the tap below it releases water until the money on the card runs out or you withdraw the card. When the “units” on the card run out you have to go to a store to recharge it with money in order to be able to receive clean water. While your commission thinks this represents a strategy for redistributing water resources and involves the purchase or transfer of water supplies or rights between a willing buyer and seller, we assure you there is nothing “willing” about it. “Evidence from water privatization cases around the world has shown the poor lose out when control of the world’s remaining freshwater resource is privatized, commodified. “Water privatization raises water rates for consumers, burdens the public with new debt, decreases accountability to the local population, increases environmental problems, and doesn’t deliver on the promises of greater efficiency, or expansion and rehabilitation of the water infrastructure.” While we’re on the subject, would you care to access your daily latte thru a latte machine and would it miff you to stand in a long line holding barrels and containers, in already hot 7am sun, then when it finally gets to be your turn see the stream of latte turn into a too-LATE trickle? Then take your CARDE out but the meter stole your MONE anyway? Because the pump runs on quantity of time, not on the quantity of water it has dispensed, you start weeping out of frustration in the heat, left high and dry under a sun you would charge us for if you could get away with it, cursing out loud, crouching away with nothing, like the devil contemplating his hooves and giving his tail up to the sky, learning how to accept his heat and bad luck for what it is? Or maybe you’re the jolly type, throwing hands in the air, tilting head back as if to kiss the sky, singing and giggling Asi es la vida? Somehow we’re doubting you’d say that’s life to the strongarm tactic of paying more but using less. Same as we’re doubting it should be up to city council to decide how the savings taken out of poor people’s pockets from privatized water will be spent. Would it be possible to use the savings for necessary infrastructure improvements like additional waterlines in outlying areas, or how ‘bout a really long hose from your gated community, guest speaker? Do you have a generous heart, guest speaker? From your own personal reservoir? Please drop by with that before we have another cholera outbreak here in the Colonias; we wouldn’t want to pass our germs and pus to you. Or perhaps further privatizing of Texas public parks should be the agenda, using public land for private profit. We’re getting the hang of it now! Because Texas ranks 49th in per-capita spending on state parks and number 1 in the amount of open space lost to development! Maybe some expenditure to overhaul the city’s obsolete water meter reader equipment? Or should it go to new golf clubs and some carts? We like the ones with cup holders for our nonexistent water bottles. Sorry, we can’t help but remember the 1.1 billion people- 1 in 6 on earth- who exist without access to water. Bad things can happen when we ignore the dead. Did you know after these units were installed, many people couldn’t afford clean water so a massive cholera outbreak also killed 259 between 2000-2002 in Madlebe, South Africa? That in KwaZulu Natal, 113,966 were infected with cholera after prepaid meters replaced communal sandpipes? Because in the Global South, a majority of people live on less than US$2 per day- and water fees can cost them more than 20% of their meager incomes? Do you make hard trade-offs between water or food, medicine, school fees, transportation or other essential goods and services? Are you forced to decrease your consumption of water or use untreated water? Or even those lattes? As a result, do you live on less than the World Health Organization’s recommended minimum water consumption for life of at least 25 liters of water per day? When you use untreated water do you lay awake at night, in your Colonia called Agua Dolce (sweet water), on blankets on your dirt floor, seething that you live in times that irrespective of income and ability to pay your government eschews obligations- including even police protection in the Colonias- and does not give a flying rat’s ass if you live or die? Death can happen within HOURS of the onset of diarrhea. Having to live by your wits, laying there sweating, when the wind blows toward you and the gas from factories burns down your throat, and you sense the universe is pulling something away from you, and you pray your stagnant brackish well water- that dwells in the crack between the two worlds- isn’t contaminated, afraid, with each in-and-out breath, that you and your kids and animals will get water-borne sicknesses like cholera, dysentery or other preventable diarrheal diseases? Do you think it an insult to human dignity to drink your own waste? Will your last minutes in this life be spent throwing up blood? Or maybe they’ll be spent watching your house burn down because the store’s not open so you can’t put money on your card, even if you had it, run to the meter, then heft the water back to the flames. And have you ever watched your corn crop wither to a sad brown then fall away because you can’t get it enough water? Did you know the WHO says 100 liters per person per day are needed in order to sustain basic human development? That since development in the United Kingdom, the use of these meters have spread through countries like Brazil, Egypt, Uganda, Curacao, Nigeria, Tanzania, Swaziland, Sudan, Malawi and Namibia? Given all this, is it fair you allow money to define whether a member of the household lives or dies or lives in sickness or health? Do you wonder where your taxes go? If you lived in a poor community you’d understand we share water and help each other out in crisis situations. Our crises don’t include bad stock tips, share, index, or commodity futures or even slow-coming lattes at Starbucks; just cells shrinking from lack of water. Unspeakable dehydration of every cell of our body. You know that again and again, with the implementation of prepaid water meters, water becomes a marketed commodity and social relations in communities erode when families run out of water? Again, we ask you, who died and made you God? Oh? You have a question for us? The music you hear on the old record player is Luigi Cherbini’s grand opera “The Water Carrier.” You’re welcome. We thought it fitting!
QUESTION: As meters get older, “99 percent of the time the meter reads in favor of the customer.” We just wanted to say that’s a good joke! It made the whole class, and Maribel, laugh really really hard, really long, and really loud. We didn’t learn in Shop that meters could decide on their own to be ethical? And if they can, why can’t you?
QUESTION: For Career day, the only job presented to us was Water Meter Reader in Texas. Or to join the Army, Navy, Airforce, or Marines (to Iraq where we can get torsos blown to smithereens because the U.S. military is too cheap to issue soldiers vests with hard armor plates in the strictly BYOB war: Bring You Own Bulletproofs. Oh, sorry, off-topic). Which one would you pick were you our age? Which did you tell your son or daughter to join? We need guidance. Thanks. If we fight for our country, will Border Guards still hassle us, will the federales be cussin’ up the cactus, spittin’ at us when we try to cross north from Mexico on Sundays after church? Will we be buried with honor as a fallen soldier serving our country? In the meantime, can we vote? Anyhoo, if we go “into” the meter reading field, can we scratch “disconnect” from the job requirements? We know you don’t mean it that way, but it sounds so… inhumane. See, here it is: Water Meter Reader, $11.63 per hour, connects and disconnects water services; monitors for leaks and inaccurate meter readings; responds to customer inquiries, and performs other related duties as assigned. Provides accurate meter readings of residential and commercial utility consumption and assists in maintaining meter records to properly bill customers for utility… Yes, we did call the Job Line 817-222-7738 to ask about the disconnection thing, but they said lo siento no habla espanol and hung up even though we spoke The Queen’s English. English, good sir. Also, as far as “Education, training, experience” go, we don’t anticipate making it past 9th grade, so could you change this: High School Diploma or equivalent, and one years meter reading experience; OR an equivalent combination of education and experience to read: No diploma from even Grade School or the equivalent, broken English if that, don’t need running water in your own home before applying, and never have to ever laid eyes on a meter. We’d really appreciate it. That was actually Maribel’s suggestion. We are grateful to her! She’s very honest so she should get the credit!
QUESTION: Sir, we had a question about the proposed water park and golf course being built with the supposed $400,000 savings a month Laredo gets by using United, while the water company is relieved of the responsibility of billing and customer relations, and retaining employees. “We’ll leave it to later as to what to do with people and so on,” Landeck said. We are wondering who “so on” is? Are they one of the 6,000 people who die from lack of water every day? Don’t you think people, instead of whooping and hollering with glee and happy abandon, sliding down rides and getting soaked, will instead climb the fence with buckets all hanging down off arms late at night, hauling it away to drink and bathe their babies in? Maybe some of the 6,000 could bring buckets, too? In that case, will you be mean and treat the water park rides and ponds with a chemical fatal to the human stomach but not too bad if it just gets on our skin? Thanks. Because maybe if we know what the chemical is in advance, we can supply our shantytowns with vials of antidote. No, really, thanks. Yes, we take science here at the school. Right, we know we’re “smart.” Paternalismo de los anglos. What? Oh, never mind. It means we’re learning a lot! You said it the way you meant it. Speaking of containers, the next time you drain your pool, could some of us bring our families by, lean over the edge, slurp the chlorinated water out with straws? We’ll empty it free of charge. No, really! Because the way United Water handles contaminants is by upping the chlorine dose, so we know we’ll be fine! Maybe some of the 6,000 could bring straws, too? And for the 5,999 who found your estate a bit out of the way, could you get us a few gallons of Shivaya Voda water- which, according to Slavic tales- is capable of bringing the dead back to life?
QUESTION: We want to know why, for an area that has historically ranked among the poorest in the nation, a city that has 50,000 water accounts, and you’re finding merely five to 10 cases per month- as you term it- an unwillingness to pay for services, a theft of services no matter how you characterize it, and yet you say “It’s not a huge problem.” That really, if it’s not a “huge problem” why can’t you leave it connected so babies don’t get sores, end up in the hospital, thus creating more city debt than had you simply kept the line going? We were hoping you could shed some light on why otherwise proud, hardworking peoples of the United States of America hook up illegal connections and use Laredo’s water for free? Who has the money you wait for? Also in your words: “This is not only a poor person problem,” can you explain what exactly you mean by that statement? Could you mean the problem is actually the converse? The problem is charging money for a human right? And when you said you were looking for a “more expeditious way of correcting the behavior” could you have meant your own greed? Shareholder returns and market share? The sound silty soil makes when rubbed against a coin? Do you know that’s just grit? This is the truth of the way things are: there are certain things we just can’t live with: this type of greed, hatred and delusion; there are certain things we just can’t live without: fresh water daily. Where is that awareness? We’re not seeing it. We do see on the pamphlet you handed out it says, “In accordance with Section 4.04 of its governing legislation, S.B. 707 from the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, the Rio Grande Regional Water Authority (RGRWA) has calculated the 2009 annual market value of water rights purchased/sold by municipalities, municipal utility districts, special utility districts, irrigation districts, and water supply corporations within the authority’s boundaries to be $2,218.00 for 2009” but we were wondering if it would instead be cheaper if you could fix the city’s water leaks? And account for the estimated 25% of water that the City of Laredo treats and produces that remains unaccounted for, according to City of Laredo Utilities director Carl Schwing? Deficiencies in meters and leaks are likely the cause of much of the city’s unaccounted-for water, he says. You’re losing 25% before it reaches the customers? And you have the gall to harass Maribel for 25k? We think “mistakes” in billing are old school tricks. Mr. Schwing said he could give no definite percentage on the amount of unaccounted for water because the water meters at the plants were inaccurate. Inaccurate? How do you calculate Maribel’s bill, then? Never mind our “documentation”, where is your documentation? Is there a ghost at that plant charging unused water services? It’s an issue that deserves a lot of scrutiny. Okay, José? Not dead slow ahead, not this regulatory limbo. And can you flush out the lines, so rust doesn’t get flushed through and ruin laundry because we don’t have much beyond the clothes on our dry backs? We have a copy here, see, it says, “When pipes fail, pressure drops and sucks dirt, debris, and often bacteria and other pathogens into the huge underground arteries that deliver water.” Perhaps thy particulate matter is edible? And see here? It says folks can’t see the bottom of tubs when they fill the bath. Does that mean Maribel’s bugs will leave her cardboard packing pallet shack and wing it over here? “You need to have an adequate oversight team internal to the city that is extremely scrupulous and oversees what is happening-that customer service and savings are there and that the production of water is environmentally sound,” Clair Muller said. “Another water main broke today and just flooded one of our major streets,” she said tensely in a Thursday phone interview.” Was that World Day for Water? We think that’s cool timing. “We’re averaging five breaks a day throughout the city,” Mr. Schwing says. “The downflow streets (Kearney, Stewart) in the area looked like moving rivers.” We like Schwing. We wish we had some swings! Anyway, clearly we’re having line breaks too often because the pipes are eroding, and with them is the alarming erosion of the inalienable rights Texans should have but do not, living their lives next to the chemical plants, sludge dumps, toxic waste sites, and polluting industries that litter this state. Do you live your life like this? Right, that wasn’t a question but a comment. Could you give us pros a tip the next time a line breaks? Maybe a phone tree to nearby phone booths so we can gallop down where water shoots out like a geyser, fill our buckets and heft them home? It would save the city millions in street cleaning costs. You’re welcome! We can live on less than minimum wage, no really! Maybe instead of Meter Readers or Professional Assassins for the government we could move state to state, fixing the 700,000 miles of fissures that are spreading in pipes delivering water to U.S. homes and businesses. We can put a dent in the 237, 600 times water mains break in the U.S. and while we’re at it, replace the cast-iron pipes of the 1880’s, thinner conduits of the 1920’s, and even less-sturdy post-World War II tubes! Time to ixnay on the contamination from pipes, solder, and old brass fittings. Someone has to do it, so why not our class? We’re small and can crawl around and fit around down there, right? Anyway, it would be the first time we fit in anywhere, so we’d like to!
QUESTION: Texas- “Let Texans run Texas”- now ranks number one- Texas – We’re #1- in many categories of pollution, and we read daily headlines such as, Booming Dairy Industry Pollutes Texas’ Waterways, Corporate Chicken Empire Saturates East Texas with Pollution, Uncovers Misuse of Federal Funds by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department: Criminal Complaint Filed, #1 in use of Deep Well Injectors as method of Waste Disposal, #1 in the Emission of Ozone Causing Air Pollution Chemicals, #1 in Toxic Chemical releases into the Air, Sea Turtles Dying On The Texas Coast, Special Deals for Alcoa Aluminum, Texas’ Largest Grandfathered Polluter. Is it right that people are starting to think neither the city nor the TNRCC commissioners, appointed by Governor George Bush, are doing enough to address the pollution in the Rio Grande? “I’m afraid that there’s just not enough enforcement by the TNRCC.” Tom Bond, president of the Rio Grande International Study Center said, “I used to think that we had the EPA, … and the TNRCC, we had people who were looking after the river and the environment in general, and [I] eventually came to the realization that wasn’t necessarily the case.” We have a question about what the case is regarding fish? The human health criteria related to potential effects of regular long-term consumption of fish and/or untreated drinking water? Edible fish tissue criteria were exceeded for arsenic, mercury, chlordane and DDE in recent studies. “… any potential human health concerns?” the EPA replied in their Toxic Substances Study – Questions and Answers that, “… For now, we can’t really say whether it’s safe to eat the fish in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Laredo/Nuevo Laredo vicinity, but the US Food and Drug Administration does recommend that pregnant women not eat fish more than once a month. We’re thinking logically that if the EPA didn’t have a concern about the fish, they’d tell women to eat it once a day, right? We do know it’s the one food we get cheap in the Colonias. Should we not be eating it, either? “Arsenic levels in a fillet of bass were 11.1 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s edible tissue criterion near the Jefferson Street Water Treatment Plant–the sole source of Laredo’s drinking water.” Were you at the city’s celebration of World Day for Water on Thursday afternoon at the Jefferson Street water treatment plant? Just wondering. Because the lunch there didn’t have fish. You didn’t want them encroaching all over your party, the streamers hanging from tanks? We read that samples of water, fish tissue and sediment were collected from 27 sites along the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, and 19 sites along its tributaries. They were analyzed for 161 chemicals (or substances) like volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semivolatile compounds (SVOCs), pesticides and metals. They said “Only one sample was collected at each site. The results can be described as a snapshot of the water quality of the river and may not reflect actual conditions of the river.” Was this a thorough examination of the water quality in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo? ANSWER: The Phase 2 study is considered thorough because it analyzed more than 161 chemicals in three types of media [water, sediment and fish tissue]. However, results can only be compared to the Phase 1 study. Therefore, it is difficult to come to definitive conclusions concerning water quality trends along the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo and its tributaries. It can tell us what was found at each sampling site at that point in time.” So, did you want to invent a study that has something to do with a definitive conclusion about river quality, rather than a “snapshot”? As you know, you can never step in the same river twice, and frankly, we don’t want to step in this river once. It’s a health and safety concern, if you hadn’t noticed, a wasteland of excessive pathogens, an E. coli bonanza. You say “the results of the Phase 2 study did not indicate any immediate threat to human health or aquatic life. The study identified seven chemicals present in the water, sediment and fish of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo and its tributaries. The greatest benefit of the Phase 2 study is that it will serve as a definitive basis for future studies. Speaking in general terms, water samples indicated that four chemical pollutants were found at levels exceeding human health criteria: arsenic, bromodichloromethane, bis (2-ethyhexyl) phthalate, and n-nitrosodi-n-propylamine.” You’re saying the study worked, it was not definitive, you came to no conclusions, and the study will be used as the prototype for all future studies? Those words, however, cannot be translated. Corporate lingo? Speaking in tongues? Now- for reasons not understood- we need a translator to translate your translator. Or it’s the testimony of a liar. But try explaining something like that. These words turn into words into more words then sky outside Laredo staring down at a tan river flashing, receding by. Nothing ever changes. Why is that? Everything’s traceable, Water Commissioner, you can find out which factories are dumping what chemicals. The answers are all available. But it’s ok, Maribel will tell us what it means after you leave. We think we’ve arrived at the edge of where things don’t matter; we just want a glass of edible water and food. It’s hard for thirsty, hungry kids to think while going tropo.
QUESTION: Can you please just stop the aerial spraying of the herbicide imazapyr to “improve” the Border Patrol’s “line of sight up and down the river.” We’re asking nicely. It’s only hundreds of yards from the Mexican city’s public water intake system. Border Patrol advised the office at Nuevo Laredo’s water utility to turn off water pumps a few hours prior to spraying. “If there is no problem, why are they asking us to do this?” Carlos Montiel Saeb, general manager, asked us to ask you. Border Patrol did not gather local input as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. It contains an acid that irritates eyes, skin and respiratory system. And it’s no different than Agent Orange and evidence links it to Parkinson’s Disease-like symptoms. Just shoot us up with embalming fluids instead! And what about that Spina Bifida down in Brownsville? Do you now know or not care it’s unprecedented to aerially spray a toxic chemical in a densely-populated area? Imazapyr is manufactured under the trade name Habitat by the multinational BASF corporation. But it could threaten more than 1,000 bird and other species at a time when spring hatchings begin and migratory birds are still in the area. Is that habitat-like? We think these birds live in their own Colonias like us! If HABITAT is that hospitable to the system, will you mix smoothies from it for your kids? Plus, if you’re that eager to mow down the Carrizo cane, hire the unemployed and hand them chainsaws, ok? How ‘bout some hand-cutting? Posting guards to avoid the cut-down-shenanigans? Some of us would rather work than collect EDD; we can add a requisition number and description before you leave today to our two-job database! Yes, we know the cane gets up to 30 feet and “provides convenient cover for undocumented border crossers and smugglers” but if they had jobs, would they need to sneak past these majestic plants and sprint the 500 meter for their lives? Then there’s that 1983 La Paz accord your spraying violates between the United States and Mexico… so which is it? The law matters or it doesn’t? Because if it doesn’t, we’ll just start breaking it wherever we see fit like you grownups. We learned in History that the US Supreme Court recently refused to consider a case pursued by Vietnamese plaintiffs against the manufacturers of Agent Orange. Consider this fair warning: we WILL win. Then all the cash that should have gone to people with clippers in their hands will go straight to our medical establishments and bankruptcies.
QUESTION: About the sandbar blocking the river from the gulf that’s endangering wildlife because it chokes off the estuary that’s breeding grounds for innumerable species like populations of white shrimp and striped mullet that have been severely affected? Did you take one of your little lone samples there? Did you speak with those fish who were going to die and they knew it? Did they have a final last meal request? “Fresh water?” Can you get that on the menu? “We provided for the wildlife by default,” Fulbright said. We were wondering what you mean by “default” and why, again, living beings are not the central consideration of any policy, as we learned they are to be in Ethics class? Also, I think we learned that in logic? They exist in their own parameters, these study-makers, don’t they? Is that ethical or logical? Do they have secret messianic complexes? Thanks. Yes, whatever you can think up to say will be most illustrative. It’s fun to watch you coming up with the words. Tell me what you really think. “Default” means added in passing and we’d like to make an observation that it throws a revealing light on your stance toward the nonhuman. Is it because you think earth is just a big ball of dirt with lava in the middle of it? I’m not sure what that means, but I have a guess. The river is just a line on a map? It doesn’t mean anything. I want to say that your concepts of right ideology suck. The reduced water flow has also allowed vegetation like water hyacinth and hydrilla to grow exponentially along the Rio Grande. Did you take some home to put on your kitchen table for a pretty bouquet to stare at while you eat baked fish? Usually, the current would flush such vegetation away, but now it’s clogging some sections of the river and we think you should go dig with your hands because on your piece of the 400,000k you can take some time off. And are you aware the EPA reported in their Rio Grande Toxic Substances Study- Questions and Answers- that the study found “edible fish tissue requirements were exceeded for arsenic, mercury, chlordane and [DDE],” that three years after studies exposed the high levels of toxic contamination, the TNRCC has yet to determine whether to issue an advisory on eating fish caught in the Laredo area. Yes, we’re still on the fish thing, sorry. Because it’s on the menu for lunch today, even though we’re not hungry after Maribel’s bugs, we just wanted to be sure. Thanks. And what about the law and those bad businesses? Aren’t you going to stop them? Because of all the payoffs and influence, is the law only a vague point of reference? Is to fight corruption here to risk your own life? “And the TNRCC has also failed to strengthen the regulation and inspection of the warehouses along the creeks emptying into the Rio Grande that many believe are the major source of the toxic contamination.” Can you please pass a message to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission U.S. and Mexican agencies, TNRCC, U.S. and Mexican Sections of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), Texas Department of Health, NAFTA, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, International Boundary and Water Commission, the National Water Commission (Comisin Nacional del Agua) and all other federal and world water regulators who base decisions on cost-benefit analyses rather than public health concerns, who deep down inside can’t help but know preservation of water needs to be in a public trust for all people and for nature, but nevertheless insist on control of the world’s remaining freshwater resources, to get it the fuck together? No, “Vivendi” is a curse word. “Veolia”, “Suez”. Or we could write a letter to them ourselves. It might make national headlines and we don’t think you’d want that. Really. No, it’s a promise, not a threat. We’re kids of our word. You may not know this, but revolutions are made by powerless people. Speaking of kids, the ones born without brains? Anencephaly? Mothers giving birth to babies without brains at 8 times the nationwide rate? You can answer why these birth defects occur more frequently here than anywhere else in the U.S. and many third world countries? Is the same entity that affects the river and does billing mistakes causing the elevations in the numbers of low birth weight babies and children born with specific heart defects? Do you say take us to the bodies, do you say we will stop this from happening? No. It’s up to us, the ones left behind. We don’t think we should have that hanging over our heads when we grow up and conceive. Yes, we know about the Cancer Therapy and Research Center’s state of the art 327,000 square foot world class, multi-disciplinary, academic cancer research and treatment center in San Antonio. And we’re thinking had environmental enforcement not been spotty, houses could have been built there instead, maybe a water plant. A tiny fraction of what it cost to build this cancer haven- 750 million- could have brought minimally acceptable sewage and water systems to the Colonias. We understand their mission is “To conquer cancer through research, prevention, an treatment” but they could nip it in the bud, take a more holistic approach with the cause- kickbacks, corruption, freewheeling law enforcement- and fight those instead of the human body. If the doctors could perhaps redirect and focus on graft and grandfathering, our cancer stats would stop making world health news. Anyway, Maribel’s relatives are tired of making the weekly drives there for chemo, okay?
QUESTION: Now Laredo city officials are proposing spending $60 million to build an additional water source for the community to be a backup in case of disaster. Did you know someone called Dr. Earhart “fears the move signals a willingness to avoid responsibility to clean up the Rio Grande?” Does this mean you’re not going to do it? And wouldn’t you say this is already a disaster? Maybe you’re happier with the adjective “crisis?” Maybe “issue” has a softer ring to it, as in EPA administrator Christie Whitman calling water quality and quantity “the biggest environmental issue that we face in the 21st century.” Because we learned in Civics that Dr. Earhart- in his analysis of the bi-national study of toxics in the Rio Grande- said “… Unless conscious actions are taken by individual citizens, industry, and government, the future of our community, and other communities which depend upon the Rio Grande for their water supply, is in jeopardy.” We were thinking that’s clear Englesa for disaster. Perhaps you have another example of a worse disaster than cholera? Maybe nuclear bombs? Maribel assured us our perception that not having water is a disaster all on its own is accurate, especially after a class field trip to her house. What? You don’t want the details? Maribel’s shaking her head no, so we’ll go onto our next question, sorry!
QUESTION: Did you know many native plants and animals are dependent upon riparian forests and wetland areas? “As the cyclical cycles of flooding in the lowland areas around the Rio Grande have been eliminated, many species of organisms have also been placed out. In fact, certain species of fish, such as the Rio Grande shiner and the shovelnose sturgeon, which were once found in the river, are no longer present.” The SE Phantom shiner is also missing. We think you’re shining us on with your sound science. Can we give you a shiner? We want to bring this sturgeon back, we want to help the ecosystem. What can we do? We learned about recycling in Civics, though, and whenever we find copies of the Texas Endangered Species Policy we shred it to oblivion. Thank you, yes, we are quite the model citizens at our age! Maribel taught us how to use it with her 468 water bills, 9 years divided by 52 weeks each!
QUESTION: About flooding? We were wondering if you knew studies suggest even limited flooding can have a tremendous impact in restoring the bosque forests of the Rio Grande? Did you know periodic flooding is ecologically sound? “Studies of cottonwoods show flooding helps their seeds to germinate and is necessary for their establishment. The cottonwood forests of the Albuquerque bosque, for the most part, date back to the early 1940’s when flooding still occurred. Since the construction of the Cochiti dam in 1942, no local flooding has occurred to help establish new growth of these trees. This has also led to the proliferation of non-native species such as the Russian olive and tamarisk. Attracting critical examination recently is the importance of “natural disasters” to the health and vitality of ecosystems. The necessity of natural fires for healthy and dynamic forests and grasslands is being better understood and utilized in management practices. Periodic flooding of lowlands is also being analyzed and evaluated as a natural and important part of the river and riparian ecosystem.” Did you take science or learn about forest fires in school growing up? Are you not familiar with consequences of flood control management? And that maybe people shouldn’t build next to a river or on a floodplain then return as soon as the water subsides and rebuild after a flood? We just want to check and see if you know what an ecosystem is? Flora and fauna? As Molles says, “Rivers and their floodplains form a complex, highly dynamic landscape that includes river, riparian forest, marsh, oxbow lake, and wet meadow ecosystems. Historically, these ecosystems actively exchanged organisms, inorganic nutrients, and organic energy sources. The key linkage between these landscape elements (has been) periodic flooding.” Could you please write this down? Here: Floods play a vital part in maintaining the health of these types of ecosystems. Periodic flooding deposits silts for development of soils, and produces oxbow lakes and new river channels which offer new environments for supporting diverse populations of organisms. Floods also increase decomposition rates and help to recycle nutrients back to the ecosystem. Also, many fish are known to utilize floodplains for spawning, and numerous riparian plants require sustained flooding for germination of seeds and early development.” Really, we’re thinking you should just let the river do its thing like it has the last thousand years. It doesn’t need you, your dams, or your plasticized cards, chemicals…. Can you please not go near it anymore? Thanks. Maribel’s nodding her head yes and crying, which is weird, but we’ll go on to the next question.
QUESTION: As far as the drought disaster goes, and the fact that you don’t have a plan to manage the river in times of drought, do you want to hear what Judge Gilberto Hinojosa of Cameron County, the highest elected official in the county, which includes Brownsville, said? ”For the longest period of time, the Rio Grande Valley has had a sound water policy in which we hope and pray for a moderate-sized hurricane every 8 to 10 years that would bypass the Valley, land in the watershed and dump in the reservoir. That isn’t a water policy.” Do you think prayer serves as an administrative model for water resource management? And if so, will prayer meet projected water demand? Because in class we’re more interested in policy analysis using a wide variety of hydrologic, water quality, and environmental models. Is that ok? Because Maribel said all her prayers didn’t work with the court and judge. How about a rain dance? We could get all 450,000 in the Colonias to do the precipitation-maracena? Maybe a basin software simulation with scenarios that include dams, aquifers, tributary rivers, concessions, water rights, the account of the storage and allocation of treaty obligations, policies, operations, and water allocation for both countries? But if not- no software nor rain dance- and you insist it’s logical to ask God for a hurricane, we know a dowser. Yes, we know it’s witchcraft, but so is prayer. Maybe we can find more water for you by pointing a forked wooden stick that comes from a willow tree up at the sky. When a dowser senses water beneath the ground, the shaft will be drawn downward. The stick is usually shaped like the letter “Y.” Why? Some people think that if you dig deep enough, you’ll eventually hit water. Why? We think if you open your heart, you will eventually get us a gallon of clean water. Thank you for your answers to our questions. Please stay for lunch! We’re frying the very last shovelnose sturgeon! Maribel’s treat.
Here’s some extra-credit! We hope you enjoy the names from the native settlers. They were here before your plasticized cards and $2,218.00 annual market value of water rights!
Historically, the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo has been called:
* mets’ichi chena, Keresan, “Big River”
* posoge, Tewa, “Big River”
* paslápaane, Tiwa, “Big River”
* hañapakwa, Towa, “Great Waters”
* tó ba-ade, Navajo, “Female River” (the direction south is female in Navajo cosmology)
Also, in our Creative Writing class, Maribel told us to write a memo to you acting like we were the Rio Bravo. Here it is! We hope you’ll answer it back!
Open Letter to the Nearest Human:
You can go straight to hell. You can’t see straight. You can’t know me, you can’t walk across me. You can’t swim across me. You can’t have me at all, you know that? I am a river and you are not a river. Even if you were a river you are not this river, this white blue wet. You are arbitrary. You are not water. You are between sky and ground and mostly ground. Believe me when I say I lay on the ground without you and am glad for it. I cannot survive with you, your dams, your pollution, your adding things to me I never needed or asked for. You have no idea what you have done to me. You cannot know. You are not of water, though you claim you are, mostly. You are of blood, very little of which needs to come out of you before you die. You have died in me, next to me, under me, over me, on me. But you are not me. Forgive you? Never. You mean nothing to me.
The Rio Bravo del Norte.
NOTE:
“Students will participate in a field trip to the Rio Grande bosque and the Rio Grande Nature Center to examine cottonwood forests and the bosque ecosystem. After all classes have had the opportunity to learn about the bosque in the classroom, this will enable them to incorporate some of what they have learned with hands-on observation and analysis. On-site activities related to these field trips will be designed to engage students in observation and data recording. Beginning a riparian reclamation project for the classes to work on as a community service project. Involve various resources from the community in a project designed to help the re-establishment of cottonwood and other native plant species in areas that have been taken over by non-native species. The project would include the removal of these non-native species of plants, such as tamarisk, and the planting of cottonwood seedlings in these areas. Also, the clean-up and removal of human and plant litter, and the thinning of understory growth in the area could be done. I would especially encourage parents and other family members of the students to become involved in the project as a form of community outreach. I view this as an opportunity to utilize knowledge that the students have learned in class in a very hands-on, real world application. The message is that there is a connection between the science of school and the science of everyday life. Students will critically analyze issues related to the current use of the Rio Grande river. Reaction papers / class discussions / debates concerning the use of the river and the damming and channelization of it will be done. Classes may also focus on issues such as measures to help preserve riparian forests and aquatic ecosystems. Students can also research methods that can be used to rescue endangered species such as the Silvery Minnow. Students will read articles recently published in the Albuquerque Journal concerning these issues and the differing points of view that are established within these articles. (See student reading list). A guest speaker from the Laredo Water Commission will visit class to answer questions.”
