_____________ (Eljc ^ortlanh (Pbeeruer
Page B4
____________________ March 24,2004
Mexico to Host World Water Summit Asian and Hispanic
Populations Boom
Focus on
restoring health,
dignity to
people
M exico w ill host the fourth
W orld W ater Forum in 2006, Presi­
dent V icente Fox said M onday,
bringing the w eeklong m eeting on
w ater scarcity to the A m ericas for
the first time.
T he 2006 sum m it will focus on
providing clean w ater and sanita­
tion to the w orld’s poor - a major
problem in relati vely water-rich Latin
America.
“W ater is the great them e o f the
21 st cen tu ry . It is our com m on fu­
ture,” Fox said. “In M exico, water is
a m atter o f national security.”
T ap w ater is considered unsafe
to d rin k th ro u g h o u t m u ch o f
M exico, and bottled w ater is con­
sum ed by m uch o f the population
that can afford it. T ourists are con­
sistently w arned to not drink tap
w ater because it can cause diges­
tive problem s.
A lack o f access to sanitation is
the m ost pressing w ater problem
worldwide, said W illiam Cosgrove,
president o f the W orld'V aterC oun-
W o rk e rs S e n d
$ 1 4 B illio n H o m e
( AP)— M exicans will receive
an estim ated $14.5 billion this
year from countrym en working
in the U nited States, a figure that
rivals the nation’s m ost im por­
tant sources o f foreign income,
according to a new study.
The study by the Inter-Ameri­
can Development Bank and Pew
Hispanic Center found that offi­
cial estimates overlook money
shipped home by mail or carried
by migrants and messengers.
It found that 18 percent o f
M exico’s population currently
receives regular incom e from
abroad.
“For a big country, it’s enor­
m ous,” said D onald Terry o f the
In ter-A m erican D evelopm ent
Bank.
Minorities to
compose half
of Americans in
2050
president o f research for the N a­
tional C ouncil o f La Raza, the
nation’s largest advocacy group
for H ispanics.
“ But in term s o f the m essage, it’s
the sam e story on how we need to
Hispanic population
could triple by 2050
Cow tracks lead up to the water's edge on a section o f the Rodriguez dam reservoir in Tijuana,
Mexico. Drought and heavy water use has lowered the reservoir to critical levels. (AP photo)
cil.
“ It’s a fundam ental issue be­
cause it affects the health o f people
and their dignity,” said Cosgrove,
noting that m ore than h a lf the
w orld’s population is living w ith­
out access to basic sanitation.
T he problem could get worse.
A ccording to a recent U.N. report,
as m any as 4 billion people could
face w ater shortages by 2025.
Rapid population grow th and
clim ate changes are feeding the
accelerating crisis that could bring
w ater shortages to 60 countries by
the m iddle o fth e century ¡faction is
not taken, according to the report.
The U.N. C hildren’s Fund re­
ported Friday that diarrhea diseases
- w hich spread more rapidly in areas
w ithout sanitation or where safe
w ater is unavailable - now claim the
lives o f about 5,000 children per
day.
Fox Proposes Election Reforms
(A P ) — P re s id e n t
V icente Fox and opposi­
tion lawm akers delivered
com peting election-reform
proposals to Congress on
M onday, each citing the
need to cut election costs
and renew confidence in a
cam paign finance system
shaken by scandal.
Both proposals would
Mexican President Vicente Fox
shorten the cam paign sea­
son for presidential candidates to that grips M exico during extended
90 days and lim it the am ount o f election seasons.
“T he purposes is to com bat cor­
m oney they can spend. The dates
for federal, state and local elections ruption, create transparency in the
use o f resources, and to increase
w ould be consolidated.
T he Fox adm inistration co n ­ accountability,” the president said
tends its plan would unlock infor­ M onday.
He said his plan “also w ould
m ation about cam paign finances
and break the legislative deadlock decrease the cost o f the dem ocracy
and facilitate legislative
agreem ents.”
Law m akers from the
In stitu tio n a l R e v o lu ­
tionary Party, or PRI,
w hich Fox unseated in
2 000, an d the leftist
D em ocratic Revolution
Party are backing an elec­
tio n -re fo rm p ro p o sa l
that w ould place new
restrictions on radio and
television advertising.
L ast year, o p p o sitio n law m ak ­
ers accu sed Fox o f using g o v ern ­
m en t-reserv ed airtim e to prom ote
the ach iev em en ts o f his ad m in is­
tratio n d u rin g the ru n -u p to m id ­
term electio n s - a com m on p rac­
tice o f the PRI d u rin g its 1929-
2000 reign.
OFF.: (5 0 3 )2 8 6 -1 1 0 3
STATE FARM
BUSINESS
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INSURANCE COMPANIES
T he n a tio n ’s
A sian and H is­
p a n ic p o p u la ­
tions will roughly
triple in size by
The Hispanic and Asian
m id -c e n tu ry ,
population could triple by 2050
w h en m in o rity
nationwide, according to
g ro u p s o v e ra ll
w ill b e n e a rly
projections by the Census Bureau.
equal in num ber
■ ■ White
■ ■ Black
with w hites, the
C e n su s B u reau
(Non-Hispanic)
says.
Asian
(
Hispanic
W h ites, now
about 69 percent
Percent change ofthe population,
ofth e population,
by race and origin
w ould com prise
35 percent
50.1 p ercent o f
U.S. residents by
2050, bureau pro­
jections released
last week show.
I m m ig r a tio n
should continue
to play a key role
in sparking the ex­
p lo siv e g ro w th
a m o n g A s ia n s
a n d e s p e c ia lly
H isp a n ics, said
G reg Spencer, a
d em o g rap h er at
the C ensus B u­ SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau
AP
reau.
These dem ographic shifts will fo cu s on in v e stm e n ts in th ese
occur as the national population populations” such as reducing d is­
balloons to 420 million at m id-cen­ parities in education and health care,
tury, rising nearly 50 percent from Perez said.
T he A si^p p o p u latio n is e x ­
2000. Americans will getabitgrayer,
too, by 2050 - nearly 21 percent of pected to gMw 213 percent to 33
residents will be age 65 or older, m illion by 2050. H ispanics will in­
crease their ranks by 188 percent to
com pared with 12 percent now.
T he latest estim ates update 102.6 million, or roughly one-quar­
lo n g -p re d ic ted tren d s, th o u g h ter o f the population.
The black population w ould see
race and ethnic changes are o c­
curring sooner because o f higher- a71 percent increase t o 61 m illion,
than-expected im m igration rates. rem aining the second-largest m i­
“These kind o f data pushes us nority.
M eanw hile, the w hite popula­
to think about the country in dif­
ferent w ays, and how w e define tion w ould grow ju st 7 percent to
A m erica,” said Sonia Perez, vice 210million
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