CEC studies water management along North American borders

The recurring drought in southern Texas and northern Mexico illustrates the impact of extreme events on transboundary water resources and their consequences for border communities. In 1995, the lack of water in northern Mexico killed crops and cattle, while fish and other aquatic life died from nacec.rising salt levels in rivers.

In fact, the 1995 drought was so severe that Mexico used up all but five percent of its share of reservoir water set by the 1944 International Treaty with the United States. As a result, the Mexican government had to submit, in May 1995, a loan request to the U.S. government for water - some 2.8 million cubic meters from nacec.the Rio Grande / Rio Bravo. Although the loan was initially denied because of concerns that a loan to Mexico might leave Texan farmers with insufficient water, the loan was later approved - albeit only for the transfer of water for domestic use.

This year the border region faces a similar scenario. A large area of northern Mexico remains under a severe and extended drought. Water supplies in reservoirs are depleted and large reductions loom in agricultural and livestock production.

Although the Canada-U.S. border has not experienced such extreme conditions in the last few years, periodic droughts in the Northern Great Plains have often had severe impacts on the quality and quantity of water along the Canada-U.S. boundary. The result has been negative social, economic and environmental consequences along the border.

The critical water resource situation in North America's border areas explains the growing international attention to water issues. Driving the concern in certain areas of the world are alarming gaps between human demands for water and available supplies of fresh water, especially where that water is shared by two or more nations.

Transboundary water resources, already a major cause of international conflict in several regions of the world, are likely to become even more acute in the near future. Conflicts have occurred in the Middle East between Turkey, Syria and Iraq over the Euphrates River, and between Israel, Jordan and other Arab countries over the Jordan River and the aquifer in the West Bank. Similarly, disputes exist between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt over the Nile and between North and South Korea over the management of the Ham River.

International treaties and binational institutions were established in North America decades ago to administer transboundary water resources. But new conditions have arisen in the border regions, threatening the shared water resources. Population and economic growth, new demands for environmental water uses, and inefficient water consumption patterns have all helped to increase the gap between water supply and water demand in some areas and led to higher pollution of water resources in others.

The management of transboundary water resources in North America requires a vision of more sustainable water use in the future. Sustainability must be seen as a process that responds to local needs and resources, and includes realistic policies and practical steps. Critical to that process is the way in which water is conceptualized. A key step is to recognize the scarcity of fresh water resources and their importance for economic growth, social well-being and the environment. No longer can water be considered only a technical problem; it has economic and social dimensions as well.

Equally important are policies geared toward greater water-use efficiency, equity and ecological integrity. Substantial benefits can result from nacec.savings in agricultural, industrial and domestic use of water. In some locations, adopting new irrigation technologies and methods or switching to less water-intensive crops has reduced the use of agricultural water by 25 percent or more. Efficiency standards for household fixtures, industry, other municipal uses and agriculture can also free up substantial amounts of water for other purposes, one possibility being the use of water for the protection of aquatic ecosystems - a growing need in North America.

Under its mandate to improve ecosystem management in North America, the CEC must respond to one of the most serious environmental problems in the border regions: the management of transboundary water resources. The CEC has therefore initiated a project studying water management at both the Canada-U.S. and the U.S.-Mexico borders. This project seeks to assess the state of transboundary water resources and their potential impact on development options in the border areas. It will also suggest actions to improve the regional management of these resources.

Such regional projects should go a long way toward developing solutions to international water problems. The challenge is to help stop, and wherever possible prevent, conflicts between nations over what is, in fact, a shared natural resource.