TY - JOUR
T1 - Interbasin water transfers at the US-Mexico border city of Nogales, Sonora
T2 - Implications for aquifers and water security
AU - Prichard, Andrea Harrop
AU - Scott, Christopher A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The research presented in this paper was supported in part by the U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program, the National Science Foundation (NSF, Grant DEB-1010495), the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (Grant SGP-CRA #005, which is supported by NSF Grant GEO-1138881), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate-Society Interactions Program. The authors would like to thank, in particular, OOMAPAS (Organismo Operador Municipal de Agua Potable, Alcantarillado y Saneamiento)-Nogales, residents of Cíbuta, and the Instituto Municipal de Investigación y Planeación-Nogales for their assistance in the field.
PY - 2014/1
Y1 - 2014/1
N2 - Nogales, Sonora, on the US-Mexico border, employs interbasin water and wastewater transfers to address water scarcity in the context of a rising population, a warming climate, and cross-border institutional asymmetries. A unique feature of its geography and border context is Nogales's export of wastewater both north to the US and, starting with the August 2012 commissioning of a strategically positioned wastewater treatment plant, south to the Alisos basin, which is its principal drinking-water source. Thus, when the new plant is fully operational, it will result in indirect potable reuse of effluent via recharge of the source-water aquifer. This paper finds that such strategies contribute to increased water scarcity in Nogales, and to detrimental health, livelihood and environmental impacts in the source basin, thus raising questions about interbasin transfers as a principal water management strategy.
AB - Nogales, Sonora, on the US-Mexico border, employs interbasin water and wastewater transfers to address water scarcity in the context of a rising population, a warming climate, and cross-border institutional asymmetries. A unique feature of its geography and border context is Nogales's export of wastewater both north to the US and, starting with the August 2012 commissioning of a strategically positioned wastewater treatment plant, south to the Alisos basin, which is its principal drinking-water source. Thus, when the new plant is fully operational, it will result in indirect potable reuse of effluent via recharge of the source-water aquifer. This paper finds that such strategies contribute to increased water scarcity in Nogales, and to detrimental health, livelihood and environmental impacts in the source basin, thus raising questions about interbasin transfers as a principal water management strategy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84900570403&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84900570403&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07900627.2012.755597
DO - 10.1080/07900627.2012.755597
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84900570403
SN - 0790-0627
VL - 30
SP - 135
EP - 151
JO - International Journal of Water Resources Development
JF - International Journal of Water Resources Development
IS - 1
ER -
