The study, which was featured in the August 9, 2010
issue of Nature magazine and later published in the peer - reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology, raises
serious doubts about the industry's contention that there is no need for tighter
water -
quality standards to keep mountaintop removal from contaminating drinking
water relied on by communities downstream of the mines.
Major Environmental
Issues: Natural fresh
water resources scarce and polluted in north, inaccessible and poor
quality in center and extreme southeast; raw sewage and industrial effluents polluting rivers in urban areas; deforestation; widespread erosion; desertification;
serious air pollution in the national capital and urban centers along US - Mexico border.