The people often have no access to clean water, and the environment is spoiled by a variety of pollutants-a combination that has led to a host of health problems. She has found that many of the residents have little hope of finding a better life. It's a sad situation . . . .
Life is just hard.
Life Along the Rio Grande Lopez, who is of Mexican American heritage, has focused her doctoral research on people living along the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. They want to be able to say, 'This is my piece of land. So they'll buy it in the hope that eventually the city might put in the sewage system or the water system. The lack of services makes daily life in the colonias a constant struggle to meet basic needs. With no running water, residents are forced to drive into the city and fill buckets.