Border Water
Border Water

Author: Stephen P. Mumme

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2023-03-21

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0816548323

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The international boundary between the United States and Mexico spans more than 1,900 miles. Along much of this international border, water is what separates one country from the other. Border Water provides a historical account of the development of governance related to transboundary and border water resources between the United States and Mexico in the last seventy years. This work examines the phases and pivot points in the development of U.S.-Mexico border water resources and reviews the theoretical approaches and explanation that impart a better understanding of these events. Author Stephen Paul Mumme, a leading expert in water policy and border studies, describes three important periods in the chronology of transboundary water management. First, Mumme examines the 1944 Water Treaty, the establishment of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) in 1945, and early transborder politics between the two governments. Next, he describes the early 1970s and the rise of environmentalism. In this period, pollution and salinization of the Colorado River Delta come into focus. Mumme shows how new actors, now including environmentalists and municipalities, broadened and strengthened the treaty’s applications in transboundary water management. The third period of transborder interaction described covers the opening and restricting of borders due to NAFTA and then 9/11. Border Water places transboundary water management in the frame of the larger binational relationship, offering a comprehensive history of transnational water management between the United States and Mexico. As we move into the next century of transnational water management, this important work offers critical insights into lessons learned and charts a path for the future.

International Groundwater Law and the US-Mexico Border Region
International Groundwater Law and the US-Mexico Border Region

Author: Maria E. Milanes

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-07-20

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9004385088

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In International Groundwater Law and the US-Mexico Border Region, Maria E. Milanes provides a study and analysis of the international groundwater law. The regulation and groundwater management along the US-Mexico border reflect the current international trends for management of transboundary groundwater. International Groundwater Law and the US-Mexico Border Region offers a new international legal and institutional framework to manage fossil aquifers and groundwater in conjunctive use with surface water, where specific guidelines and recommendations for water banking can improve water allocation and protect the environment. This framework can be adapted to any region of around the world. The US-Mexico border is the case study selected to apply and demonstrate the efficacy of this legal and institutional framework.

Bordering on Water Management
Bordering on Water Management

Author: Anita Dale Milman

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Intensive use of groundwater in internationally shared aquifers and flows of untreated wastewater across international borders not only create negative environmental and economic externalities, they also generate tensions amongst neighboring nations. Although there exists a growing body of literature on cooperation over surface waters, few studies examine the management of transboundary groundwater and cross-border flows of wastewater. Templates from research on cooperation over transboundary rivers are likely not applicable to transboundary ground and wastewaters, as they have different physical and institutional characteristics. Through an investigation of the shared ground and wastewaters in the Upper Santa Cruz River basin (USCRB), located along the US-Mexico border, my research improves understandings of factors that heighten and hinder bi-national cooperation over those transboundary resources. In the USCRB ground and wastewaters are characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. Contested visions, ill-defined management goals, an inability to quantify water needs, and incommensurability between outcomes cause the utility functions of both the US and Mexico to be poorly defined. Moreover, due to incomplete conceptual models, insufficient data, and subjectivity in interpretation, physical processes are not well understood. As a result, it is unclear what either side of the border stands to gain or lose from implementing transboundary ground and wastewater management activities. In addition to this uncertainty, institutional arrangements within both the US and Mexico condition the position of each country vis-à-vis its shared waters. Polycentricism in national and sub-national institutional regimes leads to gaps and overlaps in authority while concurrently, the evolving nature of institutional arrangements leads to ambiguity in authority and responsibilities. These gaps, overlaps, and ambiguity limit the capacity of each country to conduct transboundary water management activities. The combination of this complex institutional environment with considerable uncertainty compels each country to undertake unilateral action based on that country's ethos of water and the immediate incentives it faces. Strengthening the internal capacity of each country, by addressing structural problems in the institutional realm and improving knowledge in the technical-information realm, will lead to greater awareness of possible synergies from cooperation and will increase its ability to take advantage of those synergies.

Transboundary Water Management
Transboundary Water Management

Author: Anton Earle

Publisher: Earthscan

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 184977658X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The management of water resources across boundaries, whether sub-national or international, is one of the most difficult challenges facing water managers today. The upstream exploitation or diversion of groundwater or rivers can have devastating consequences for those living downstream, and transboundary rivers can provide a source of conflict between nations or states, particularly where water resources are scarce. Similarly, water based-pollution can spread across borders and create disputes and a need for sound governance.This book is the first to bring together in a concise and accessible way all of the main topics to be considered when managing transboundary waters. It will raise the awareness of practitioners of the various issues needed to be taken into account when making water management decisions and provide a practically-based overview for advanced students. The authors show clearly how vital it is to cooperate effectively over the management of shared waters to unlock their contribution to regional sustainable development. The book is largely based on a long-running and tested international training programme, run by the Stockholm International Water Institute and Ramboll Natura, and supported by the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida), where the respective authors have presented modules on the programmes. It addresses issues not only of conflict, but also of managing power asymmetries, benefit-sharing, stakeholder participation, international water law, environmental water requirements and regional development. It will be particularly useful for those with a background in hydrology or engineering who wish to broaden their management skills.

Advancing Sustainability of U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Drylands
Advancing Sustainability of U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Drylands

Author: Academia Mexicana de Ciencias, Academia de Ingeniería de México y Academia Nacional de Medicina de México

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-01-27

Total Pages: 81

ISBN-13: 0309484243

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The drylands region shared by the United States and Mexico currently faces multiple sustainability challenges at the intersection of the human and natural systems. Warming and drying conditions threaten surface water and groundwater availability, disrupt land- and marine-based livelihood systems, and challenge the sustainability of human settlements. These biophysical challenges are exacerbated by a highly mobile and dynamic population, volatile economic and policy conditions, increased exposure to extreme events, and urbanization on marginal, vulnerable lands. The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine collaborated with the Mexican Academy of Sciences, Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine to plan a 2-day binational workshop, Advancing Sustainability of U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Drylands. The workshop goals were to highlight the challenges facing the region, assess the scientific and technical capacity that each nation can bring to bear in addressing these challenges, and identify new opportunities for binational research collaboration and coordinated management approaches in the advancement of sustainability science and development. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Management of Transboundary Rivers and Lakes
Management of Transboundary Rivers and Lakes

Author: Olli Varis

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-03-15

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 3540749284

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Transboundary rivers and lakes are often the remaining new sources of water that can be developed for human uses. These water sources were not used in the past because of the many complexities involved. Written and edited by the world’s leading water and legal experts, this unique and authoritative book analyses the magnitudes of the transboundary water problems in different parts of the world. It also examines difficulties and constraints faced to resolve these problems.

Both Sides of the Border
Both Sides of the Border

Author: Linda Fernandez

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2005-12-30

Total Pages: 501

ISBN-13: 0306479613

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Mexican -- United States border represents much more than the meeting place of two nations. Our border communities are often a line of first defense -- absorbing the complex economic, environmental and social impacts of globalization that ripple through the region. In many ways, our success or failure in finding solutions for the environmental, social and economic issues that plague the region may well define our ability to meet similar challenges thousands of miles from the border zone. Border residents face the environmental security concerns posed by water scarcity and transboundary air pollution; the planning and infrastructure needs of an exploding population; the debilitating effects of inadequate sanitary and health facilities; and the crippling cycle of widespread poverty. Yet, with its manifold problems, the border area remains an area of great dynamism and hope -- a multicultural laboratory of experimentation and grass-roots problem-solving. Indeed, as North America moves towards a more integrated economy, citizen action at the local level is pushing governments to adapt to the driving forces in the border area by creating new institutional arrangements and improving old ones. If there is one defining feature of this ground-up push for more responsive transboundary policies and institutions, it is a departure from the closed, formalistic models of the past to a more open, transparent and participatory model of international interaction.