DONNA — Signs bearing a skull and crossbones dot the banks of a
reservoir and canal near this town on the U.S.-Mexico border,
but the fishermen standing in the reeds nearby ignore them,
casually reeling in fish that are contaminated with toxic
chemicals and banned for human consumption. Some do it to quell
their hunger, others to make some cash by selling the carp,
catfish and gar in nearby neighborhoods. “It’s a great little
lake,” says Joe Garcia, 43, among those fishing here one day
recently, where a carp with the highest levels of toxic PCB
chemicals ever tested in a fish was caught years ago. He says he
throws back his catch but a lot of others here can’t afford to
pass up the meal. The reservoir is one of thousands of sites
along the U.S.-Mexico border where industry, pesticide use and
population growth left hazards in past decades that still await
solutions. Donna is among the worst — earning a place on the
Environmental Protection Agency’s priority list — and
illustrates how slowly the government clea