For a half-hour documentary on KUNM, the NPR member station in Albuquerque, Kent Patterson and Mercedes Mejia dug into environmental and public-health concerns of Southern New Mexico communities that straddle the Mexican border. For decades, residents have struggled with environmental issues that came to the fore again in 2023, when toxic levels of arsenic were recorded in discolored water. The documentary uncovered violations of state and federal laws; the surprise dissolution of the water utility amid multiple lawsuits; soaring insurance costs; and obsolete infrastructure in a place that has been compared to Flint, Michigan.
Grantee documents U.S./Mexico border residents’ decades-long fight for clean, safe water
