The Path towards Groundwater Management in the Borderlands of Mexico and Texas

Abstract

Binational efforts to understand, assess, and manage shared groundwater resources on the Mexico‐Texas border are limited and politically sensitive. On the Mexico side, long‐standing centralized groundwater governance structures have created institutional barriers at the local level to the expansion of knowledge and cooperation over these transboundary resources. On the Texas side, property rights related to groundwater resources limit the scope of options available for cooperative management of cross‐border aquifers. In order to develop more effective cross‐border relations and enhance knowledge, cooperative management, and sustainability of the region's shared aquifers, stakeholders in the border between Mexico and Texas should pursue local and regional arrangements that focus primarily on water quality and environmental issues. Additionally, in order for the results of local efforts to be permanent and sustainable, they must consider the more formal, long‐term cooperative models that tend to have stronger systemic impacts and funding commitments. In addition, stakeholders and officials must make a better effort to educate the public on the science and facts in order to avoid past experiences where fear and political lobbying scuttled viable and promising cooperative efforts.