A federal panel that advises the president and Congress on programs and practices that should be implemented at the border with Mexico, has produced a letter to President Joe Biden that identifies challenges to safe, portable water to border communities, and proposes strategies to improve access to water supplies in underserved and unconnected communities in the border region.

The Good Neighbor Environmental Board (GNEB) reviewed its multi-page letter at its meeting on Nov. 13, 2024 at Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C.

GNEB Chair Kimberly Collins, who is a professor of public administration at California State University, led the meeting that was convened to discuss and approve draft letters, including the letter that is near completion and that covers technological solutions to improve access to safe drinking water by communities along the U.S. border with Mexico, specifically communities along the Rio Grande and lower Colorado rivers.

The letter cites the increasing population along the border area as one of the strains on water infrastructure in that region. The letter says, “The increasing demand from expanding populations places immense pressure on aging and insufficient infrastructure which struggles to meet contemporary needs due to regional leaks and inefficiencies.”

Furthermore, “unplanned urban expansion is common on the Mexican side of the border, leading to large areas in the peripheries without connection to both municipal water sources and sewage,” the letter says.

“So within that context, we did a review of the large cities and binational metropolitan areas,” which illustrates the need for “binational coordination,” as well as for local coordination across the border, said Collins, who added such coordination is necessary “because many of these issues do not rest just because there is a boundary line or a barrier at the border.”

Examples of areas in need of local and binational coordination include San Diego, Tijuana, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, as “highly urbanized areas” that have water systems. “The increasing demand from expanding populations places immense pressure on aging and insufficient infrastructure which struggles to meet contemporary needs due to frequent leaks and inefficiencies,” the letter says.

In addition, “there might be communities that are outside of these urban developments that lack access to, or are not tied into the current water systems,” Collins said, There are many small communities, tribal and rural areas along the border, and they have their own specific issues, she said.

Small scale systems are problematic because of cost and the ability of locals to be able to support small scale systems, and if the infrastructure is not there for small communities, it can be difficult for them to receive water, according to Collins. “So they struggle with efficiencies in operation and maintenance and they need expertise, financial resources and technical capabilities,” she said.

The letter says, “Small water systems frequently struggle with effective operations and maintenance due to their limited customer base. These systems often lack the expertise, financial resources, and technical capabilities required for infrastructure upgrades, repairs, and the installation or operation of advanced treatment technologies.”

Furthermore, “Challenges in rural areas along the border are typically characterized by their low population density and widespread geographic distribution that posed logistical challenges for maintaining and upgrading infrastructure in these areas. The challenges of drinking water access are often linked to the isolation and limited resources available for infrastructure development and maintenance,” the letter says.

Among those challenges include “a lack of political will to improve conditions, primarily because of the costs associated with these small systems,” the letter say. “Many tribal and rural communities rely on small scale water systems or individual wells which may lack the capacity to provide consistent and safe water supply. On the Mexican side of the border, many urban residents rely upon trucked water and household cisterns or water tanks.”

To provide improvements to water systems, the International Boundary and Water Commission—which is an international body created by the U.S. and Mexico in 1889 to apply rules for determining the location of their international boundary when meandering rivers transferred tracts of land from one bank to the other—has worked with U.S. states to link local communities, smaller communities, tribal areas and rural areas to water connections, she added.

“Of course, with industrial and trade activities at the border, it creates additional demand and pressures upon the system, and this is something that was brought forward,” Collins said.

Trade with Mexico is worth at least $5.4 billion annually, and border infrastructure plays a critical role in facilitating this trade, she said, adding the U.S.-Mexican border has 49 vehicle and pedestrian crossings, 28 of which are in Texas. Furthermore, the border region is supported by rail networks, as well as airports, seaports and pipelines, according to Collins. “There’s a big strain on current infrastructure which creates bottlenecks and delays,” which the states seek to ease by implementing master plans that seek to foster cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, she said.

An aspect of infrastructure that is profoundly important is wastewater treatment facilities, according to Collins, who adds there needs to be a focus on ensuring that wastewater is treated in a way so it does not contaminate the potable water sources. “In the San Diego, Tijuana region there are sewage flows. A lot of water continues to flow back across and forth, back and forth across the border, and there are many different types of cross contaminations that happen within border regions,” she said.

The letter covers wastewater saying, “Inexpensive but inadequate wastewater treatment facilities and insufficient resources for continuous operation in Mexico lead to the discharge of raw sewage, contaminating shared water sources and affecting water quality, making treatment for municipal use more complex and expensive.”

However, the letter adds that “Binational water treatment plants such as the ones in Tijuana, San Diego, and the two Laredos (Texas and Mexico) have proven to be successful solutions.”

The letter also discusses the advantages and disadvantages related to water-availability challenges faced by small systems and remote communities, as well as listing “the portfolio of water supply options,” including possible technological solutions, and new technologies that could provide access to water, according to Collins.

“These new technologies that allow for water harvesting, solar stills and such, we've (GNEB) tried to provide the pluses and minuses for each of those,” said Collins, who added the geography of an area, and urban development are also important aspects that impact water availability.

Once the GNEB has proofread the letter, and added further information to the document, it will be sent to the Council on Environmental Quality—which is also a presidential panel that coordinates federal efforts to improve, and protect U.S. public health and environment—for the council to review before the letter is sent to the president, which the GNEB expects will occur during December 2024.