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Christina N. Tippit

Is Anyone Searching for a Solution?: Transboundary Groundwater Resources Shared by the United States and Mexico. Christina N. Tippit. Why is this topic important?.

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Christina N. Tippit

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  1. Is Anyone Searching for a Solution?: Transboundary Groundwater Resources Shared by the United States and Mexico Christina N. Tippit

  2. Why is this topic important? • U.S.-Mexico border is a generally arid region and many living there rely on groundwater due to low annual precipitation and lack of ample surface water resources • Laws regulating groundwater management on an international border are almost non-existent • No consensus on how many aquifers exist • Conflicting laws regarding groundwater in the U.S. and Mexico

  3. Important Agreements • 1944 Water Treaty • International Boundary and Water Commission’s (IBWC) Minute 242 • United States-Mexico Transboundary Aquifer Act • IBWC’s Minute 289 • La Paz Agreement http://research.utep.edu/

  4. Issues • Declining water tables • Little to no information on water quality • No uniformity in groundwater law (even among American border states) • Federal v. State Issues • No consensus on the number of transboundary groundwater resources • Gaps in data http://www.ibwc.state.gov/

  5. Recommendations • Development of an over-arching agency to oversee water quality and quantity issues among U.S. states • Equitable and reasonable use • Notification and consultation • Standardize data collection and measurements • Annual bi-national information exchange • Bi-national effort to catalog all transboundary groundwater resources

  6. Further Readings • Mumme, Stephen P., Advancing Binational Cooperation In Transboundary Aquifer Management on the U.S.-Mexico Border. 16 Colo. J. Int’l Envtl. L. & Pol’y 77, 79 (2005) • Hardberger, A., What Lies Beneath: Determining the Necessity of International Groundwater Policy Along the United States-Mexico Border and a Roadmap to an Agreement, 35 Tex. Tech L.Rev. 1212 (2004) • Gavrell RC, The elephant under the border: an argument for a new, comprehensive treaty for the transboundary waters and aquifers of the United States and Mexico. 16 Colo. J. Int’l Envtl. L. & Pol’y 189 (2005) • Transboundary Groundwaters: The Bellagio Draft Treaty. 29 Nat. Resources J. 676 (1989) • Eckstein, G. & Hardberger, A., State Practice in the Management and Allocation of Transboundary Groundwater Resources in North America. 18 Yearbook of Int'l Envt'l L. 2007 96 (2008)

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