2. Border Environmental issues and adverse health
effects
Home to 12 million people
Waste generation
pollution
inadequate water supply and
waste treatment facilities
• Cancer, hepatitis A, intestinal
diseases, birth defects
3. Management of water in the border region
There must be cooperation between
the U.S. and Mexico!
Why?
The two countries share rivers .
They have different institutional frameworks for managing
water.
- Rio Grande
4. The best solution- Border 2012 Program
Border 2012 uses a bottom up approach to water
management by having decentralized decision making
between state, local, and tribal actors from both sides of the
border and it led to tangible success in improvement of
water management and public health of the border region.
5. Attempts at Cooperation prior to Border 2012
• International Boundary and Water
Commission- 1889
• California Energy Commission- 1974
• Border Environment Cooperation
Commission & North American
Development Bank – 1994
6. Border 2012
The structure allows for collaborative decision making.
National coordinators are the Environmental Protection
Agency (The U.S.) and the Secretariat of Environmental
and Natural Resources (Mexico).
Border- Wide workgroups
Policy Forums
Regional Workgroups
Task Forces
7. Success Stories
• Mexicali- a new wastewater
treatment plant provided for
250,000 residents.
• Water infrastructure for indigenous
communities in Baja California
• Sonora- 3,000 gallon storage tank
was built.
• Nogales, Sonora- upgraded Nogales
International Wastewater treatment
Plant
• San Luis, Sonora – wastewater
treatment plant and collection
system for 80,000 residents.
• Infrastructure in Metamoros and
Nuevo Leon (in Mexico).
• Almost completely eliminate
untreated wastewater that went into
the Rio Grande.
