News last week that a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl died shortly after being apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection has brought the nation’s focus back to the U.S.-Mexico border. That includes the tent city in Tornillo, Texas: a facility the federal government erected in June to house migrant children who recently crossed the border. The Tornillo site was supposed to be temporary, but it’s continued to expand. Over the weekend, a congressional delegation toured the site and called on the government to shut it down.
By Kristen Cabrera, Texas Standard
Despite its name, water in the West Texas town of Big Spring is scarce. The town’s namesake spring dried up decades ago, and droughts in recent years have made the water situation there even worse. So, Big Spring had to get creative. In 2013, the city became the first in the U.S. to start treating and then reusing its wastewater. Some people call this “toilet to tap” – it’s, understandably, not a favored term among water engineers.
