Research scientist looks for ways to limit pollution along the border

Local News

Research scientist looks for ways to limit pollution along the border
BY PAIGE LAUREN DEINER, STAFF WRITER
Mar 10, 2005

Jim Anderson, a senior research scientist at Arizona State University, is trying to help residents of Yuma County and Mexico breathe easier.

He is conducting research in San Luis Rio Colorado, Son., about how pollutants in the air affect respiratory health.

Anderson likens his work to that of a detective. He said he tries to find the causes of pollution and then solutions to resolve them.

His research has shown that the biggest contributors to air pollution that cause respiratory diseases are agriculture, unpaved roads, brick-makers in Mexico and emissions from automobiles. These pollutants kick tiny particles into the air that are too small to be stopped by the nose's natural filters, but are large enough to cause damage to the lungs, which can result in asthma and other respiratory diseases.

"Inhaling the stuff causes lung disease after a long period of time," he said Wednesday during a visit in Yuma.

Many of these pollutants exist in Arizona, but they are compounded by pollutants that blow in from border towns in Mexico.

"Wind doesn't recognize the border," he said.

He is currently working on a project in San Luis Rio Colorado which looks at brick-makers' impact on the town's air quality.

Anderson said in the short-term the data produced from his research is being used to decide whether to relocate the brick-makers' neighborhood, which houses approximately 100 brick-making businesses and homes.

He said this "solves the local problem, not the long-term problem." In the long run, brick-makers are going to have to find a cleaner production method.

Currently, brick-makers use mud and dried cow manure to make bricks. The bricks are then stacked, wood is placed inside the stacks and then the bricks are covered and fired for 20 hours.

The problem, Anderson said, is during those 20 hours a "horrible black smoke" is created and that smoke is full of carcinogenic compounds including hydrofluoric acid.

Anderson said Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a border city across from El Paso, Texas, had a similar problem with its 400 brick-makers.

To solve the problem, the Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy developed a new kiln that reduces the amount of carcinogens released in the brick-firing process tremendously, he said. The developers delivered the model kiln and taught the brick-makers in Ciudad Juarez how to use it. The researchers returned a few years later and discovered that none of the brick-makers were using the new kiln.

"It's hard to get people to implement solutions," Anderson said.

He said the success rate at implementing solutions increases when there are incentives, either punitive or reward-based. For example the government of San Luis Rio Colorado could offer to cut taxes on the brick-makers who use the new kiln, or the government could impose taxes on people who are not using it. Anderson said either way would encourage people to change their behavior.

He said in the future he would like to become more involved with the Mexican border towns and have better contacts with the people of Sonora. Anderson said this involvement would allow him to better transfer "knowledge, ideas and technology so we can come to solutions together."

But he said, "This is not to say all of the problems come from Mexico."

Paige Lauren Deiner can be reached at pdeiner@yumasun.com or 539-6872.