Border Fence Leads to Flooding

The fence under construction along the Arizona-Mexico border aims to keep immigrants out, but it’s also yielding some unintended environmental consequences. At the moment, its being credited with flooding in the area, environmentalists say.

Flooding is just one environmental downside of the new fence. As Mike reported earlier this year, the Bush administration took the bold action in waiving dozens of environmental, public health and cultural heritage laws in order to speed up the construction. Some green groups, including the non-profit Defenders of Wildlife, aren’t particularly surprised by the flooding problems.

“It doesn’t take an expert hydrologist to anticipate the potential for these walls to become like dams,” Defenders spokesman Matt Clark told the Associated Press, “especially in flash flood type of storms, where a lot of water and debris are generated very quickly and can pile up against the fences very rapidly.