Identifying and assessing priority transboundary aquifers along the United States- Mexico border

Nathaniel Kyle Pasley

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70227729

Identifying and assessing priority transboundary aquifers along the United States- Mexico border

Nathaniel Kyle Pasley

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Many of the 15 million inhabitants along the United States-Mexico border derive fresh water from transboundary aquifers straddling and extending far beyond the political boundary separating the two countries. The previous lack of a large-scale cooperative and structured data collection effort and groundwater management strategy for the region has left border communities with little information on current and future groundwater supplies. In 2006, the U.S. Federal Government enacted the United States – Mexico Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Act (Public Law 109–448) to address this issue.

Explore related subjects

CCAST Case Study on Actionable Science Report

Source-reported bounding extent: 30.44867367928756° to 32.194208672875384° latitude; -107.5341796875° to -104.69970703125° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Nathaniel Kyle Pasley. 2020. Identifying and assessing priority transboundary aquifers along the United States- Mexico border. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70227729

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2021

Delivering real-time water hazard information through human-centered design

On Memorial Day, 2015, catastrophic flooding throughout central Texas resulted in the loss of 13 lives and caused millions of dollars in damages (Furl 2018). The flooding exposed the need for water resource managers, first responders, and the public to have better real-time access to streamflow gaging stations and weather information. In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed the Texas Water Dashboard (Dashboard) to combine datasets produced by multiple agencies and display them in a single web-mapping application.

Texas↗

USGS2020

Assessing the state of water resource knowledge and tools for future planning in the lower Rio Grande-Rio Bravo Basin

The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin (hereinafter referred to as the Rio Grande) is a transboundary basin, with the Rio Grande forming the border between the United States and Mexico for approximately 2,034 km. The waters of the Rio Grande serve as a critical drinking source for 13 million people, connecting numerous population centers representing diverse backgrounds and cultures along its length. Cross-border ecosystems and communities make water management strategies particularly challenging. With different regulations and societal interests in the two countries, developing effective water-management strategies is challenging and requires the coordination of diverse interested parties representing different government agencies, institutions, and stakeholder groups with varying and sometimes conflicting objectives. To better evaluate the human and environmental water needs (environmental flows) of this constrained river system, an improved understanding of past and present water management objectives, policies, allocation practices, and water use is needed.

Lower Rio Grande-Río Bravo Basin↗

USGS2020

A socio-environmental geodatabase for integrative research in the transboundary Rio Grande/Río Bravo basin

Management of water resources in the transboundary Rio Grande/Río Bravo Basin (the Basin) presents challenges for state and Federal entities in the United States and Mexico making management decisions on shared water resources. Damming, channelization, water availability, and allocation are governed by water rights and water-sharing agreements. Data and information sharing are important aspects of transboundary cooperation, but differences in format, content, spatial and temporal resolution, and language hinder collaboration. In addition, data on the kinds and geographic distribution of water governance and management institutions across the Basin have not been consistently documented. Existing data disparities parallel the hydrological and social fragmentation of the Basin. Seeking to underscore the interdependence between social and environmental processes in the Basin, anthropologists and modelers collaborated to develop a socio-environmental geodatabase. This geodatabase is a first step in modeling the social components of decision making and their connectivity to environmental processes across the Basin. The geodatabase is available in an open-access domain and contains geospatial data related to water and land governance, hydrology, water use and hydraulic infrastructure, socioeconomics, and the biophysical environment necessary to advance the understanding of basin dynamics. Having these data documented and compiled in a central location serves as a resource to help decision makers better understand upstream and downstream social-environmental characteristics. This knowledge is useful for developing sustainable water management policies in a region where water resources are increasingly under pressure from climatic, environmental, and human-related changes.

Chihuahua, New Mexico, Texas↗