Humane Borders Water Stations

There are more than 80 Humane Borders water stations. Some consist of a single 65-gallon barrel of water, while others may have up to half a dozen barrels, along with emergency rations, first aid kits and, in winter, a stash of warm clothes. All the barrels are plastic, painted blue, fitted with spigots, and placed on steel stands above the desert floor. All the water stations are marked by a blue flag atop a flagpole 30 feet high. The barrels all have Humane Borders bumper stickers and are painted with the word "Agua" on the side. Local soft drink companies who support our cause donate the 55-gallon drums.

By collaborating with the U.S. Border Patrol and the Mexican Consulate, and tracking stories in the news media, Humane Borders has developed detailed map of the region that mark the GPS location of every migrant discovered to have died. Almost all are along footpaths that stretch north across wilderness of death traps. The information allows us to approach government and private land managers, show them where deaths occur most frequently, and offer a strategy for water stations aimed at curbing the fatalities. On some federal lands, our permits allow us to place the water stations a day's walk apart. On some private ranches we place the barrels at cattle watering stations so that migrants don't damage equipment and drink foul water. We know that more deaths occur in the areas we are not permitted to establish the water stations.

The water stations are maintained by hundreds of volunteers, including 65 trained drivers, who head out into the desert on 70 different sorties each week. Each station is checked regularly -- some as often as every day -- to ensure the safety of the water, report vandalism, and pick up the inevitable collection of trash and discarded personal items left by migrants heading north. At some stations it is possible for our truck to pull right alongside our barrels and fill them directly from a tank on the truck. In other cases we have to carry or handcart smaller bottles up to half a mile to fill the barrels by hand. All the water barrels are purified with chlorine, preventing organic growth and keeping the life-saving water safe for drinking.