New directions in binational water resource management in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands

Abstract

The onset of the 21st century sees the U.S.-Mexico border facing numerous challenges in meeting demand for water resources across a diverse set of interests, while also protecting water quality and providing for in-stream uses. This chapter surveys ongoing water resource management efforts in the border region and also examines a broad transboundary water resource management literature to identify existing innovations of note and also to offer ideas for future research. The increasing role of public participation and a democratic decision and policy making process, watershed-based approaches to transboundary water resource management, and the role of water markets are useful areas of investigation uncovered. I suggest that these concepts can form the foundation for future research efforts that may be fruitful in examining the many water resource management challenges that the region will face in the future.

Notes

1 Formal agreements of binational policy negotiated between the U.S. and Mexican sections of the IBWC are known as IBWC Minutes. These Minutes are less formal and rigid than treaties between sovereign states, yet they act as binding agreements between the U.S. and Mexico on issues concerning water distribution, water quality, or boundary disputes. They tend to be fairly short in length and lay out general actions agreed upon by representatives from both sections to solve the relevant problem.