Science Data in Support of Environmental Health Studies in the 

U.S.-Mexico Border Region 

Background: The border region 

of the United States and Mexico 

encompasses a vast and diverse 

array of physical settings and 

habitats that include wetlands, 

deserts, rangeland, mountains, 

and forests, which are unique in 

terms of the diversity of their 

water, mineral, and biological 

resources. The region is 

interconnected economically, 

politically, and socially owing to its 

binational heritage. In 1995, nearly 

11 million people lived immediately 

adjacent to the border. By one 

account, that population could 

more than double by 2020. 

This rapid population growth and 

consequent economic 

development and land-use 

changes are pushing the limits of 

environmental sustainability and 

quality. Infrastructure development 

has lagged behind the rapid 

growth of the region, resulting in a 

shortage of water for municipal, 

agricultural, and industrial uses. 

These stressors threaten the 

quality of life in the region and 

raise concerns about the 

interdependence of environmental 

quality and human health. 

To allow for continued economic 

growth while protecting the area’s 

natural resources and fostering a 

high quality of life, the United 

States and Mexico need an 

improved understanding of the 

threats posed by these 

anthropogenic changes. 

Figure 1. Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. 

Issues of particular concern 

include (1) contaminants in ground 

water, surface water, and biota 

from agricultural, municipal, and 

industrial activities; (2) airborne 

pollutants from fossil-fuel 

combustion and other activities; 

(3) contaminants from past and 

present mining activities and 

mineral deposits; and 

(4) pathogens, pharmaceuticals, 

hormones, and other contaminants 

released in treated and untreated 

human and animal wastewaters. 

Geographic Extent: The project 

ultimately will encompass the 

entire U.S.-Mexico border region. 

Work in 2004 will focus on 

watersheds and aquifers along the 

Rio Grande/Rio Bravo below 

Falcon Reservoir and extend to 

the lower part of the Laguna 

Madre of Texas and the nearshore parts of the Gulf of Mexico. 

The region encompasses 10,240 

square miles—6,155 in Mexico 

and 4,085 in the United States. In 

Texas, the primary population 

centers are McAllen, Harlingen, 

and Brownsville; in Tamaulipas, 

they are Reynosa and Matamoros. 

Among the unique habitats of this 

segment of the international 

border region are the resacas

(oxbow lakes) of the Lower Rio 

Grande Valley. As in other border 

areas, the water resources and 

associated plants, fish, and wildlife 

of the Lower Rio Grande Valley 

are increasingly subject to the 

effects of human activities. 

Science Objective: 

The primary 

objective of this 

project is to develop 

an integrated, Webbased, earth and 

biological resources 

database for display 

and further analysis 

within a geographic 

information system 

(GIS) framework. 

This GIS will 

Figure 2. Study area. provide the needed 

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet 2004–3013

February 2004
Version 1.0

data and tools for furthering the 

understanding of the occurrence 

and distribution of disease-causing 

agents in the environment and 

their specific pathways of 

exposure in water, air, biota, 

and soil. To meet this objective, 

the following tasks will be 

undertaken: 

Data Assimilation and 

Integration into an Internet Map 

Service: Initial efforts in 2004 will 

focus on cataloguing pertinent 

core datasets and designing and 

developing the architectural 

framework for an Internet map 

service (IMS). Through various 

partnerships with local, State, and 

Federal agencies in both 

countries, the U.S. Geological 

Survey has access to a variety of 

biologic, geologic, hydrologic, 

environmental, human health, 

cultural, and demographic 

datasets that will be integrated into 

a binational GIS. These data will 

be made available to public health 

and natural resource managers 

and researchers and to the public 

through the IMS, thus providing a 

geospatial foundation for analyzing 

causal factors between 

environmental conditions and 

human health issues, as well as 

for identifying data needs. 

Examples of datasets to be 

evaluated for incorporation into the 

GIS include: 

Biologic themes, such as 

contaminants in biota and 

identification of species and 

habitats at risk. 

Geologic themes, such as 

bedrock and surficial geology, 

airborne geophysics, and soil and 

sediment geochemistry. 

Hydrologic themes, such as 

watershed and aquifer 

characteristics and chemical 

contaminants and pathogens in 

source waters and treated drinking 

water. 

Geographic themes, such as 

satellite imagery, land use and 

land cover, land-surface elevation, 

demographic data, and pesticide 

and nutrient use. 

 

Figure 3. High-resolution digital elevation 

model. 

The geospatial database 

foundation will enable scientists 

and public health organizations to 

incorporate their specific scientific 

datasets. Where available, 

integrated binational datasets will 

be structured in a networked 

database format for ease of 

analysis and long-term 

maintenance. 

Opportunities for Collaborative 

Science: An anticipated outcome 

of this project will be increased 

opportunities for collaboration 

between scientific researchers in 

the public health, natural 

resources, and environmental 

protection fields. Such 

collaborations will result in the 

identification of new research 

initiatives that ultimately will 

provide greater insight into the 

interdependence of environmental 

quality and human health. 

However, opportunities for 

collaboration will only arise as a 

result of widespread awareness of 

the existence of the products from 

this project. Therefore, a series of 

stakeholder meetings in both 

countries will be held to introduce 

potential partners and end-users 

to the project and to solicit their 

support and feedback regarding 

the usefulness of the IMS. After 

the first year of the project, a fact 

sheet describing the availability 

and use of the IMS will be 

published. 

Figure 4. Satellite imagery of Rio 

Grande/Rio Bravo at the Gulf of Mexico. 

Figures 3 and 4 courtesy of the University 

of Texas, Center for Space Research 

For more information, contact: 

Denny Buckler, (573) 876–1803 

dbuckler@usgs.gov or 

Eric Strom, (512) 927–3552 

ewstrom@usgs.gov