Border 2012 Program

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

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

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.

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

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 workgroupsPolicy ForumsRegional WorkgroupsTask Forces

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.