Rio Grande Water Resource Management

Characteristics of the Rio Grande Watershed:

              The Rio Grande River begins in Colorado and travels through New Mexico before it becomes the border between the United States and Mexico, specifically forming the southern edge of Texas [Fig 1-2]. Its watershed includes parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States and Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas in Mexico (UNEP 2010). The total drainage area of the Rio Grande is 570,000 kilometers squared, and the rivers length is 2,880 kilometers (Izmailova 2001). This makes it the 5th largest river in North America and 24th largest in the world. At separate points it joins with two other large rivers, the Pecos River and the Rio Conchos. The Pecos River runs more or less parallel to the Rio Grande until it joins it near Del Rio. The Rio Conchos splits off the Rio Grande and runs Southwest into central Mexico (UNEP 2010).

               It is well accepted that the Rio Grande is an asymmetric border between a developed (USA) and a developing (Mexico) country. As of 2006, approximately 13 million people lived within the Rio Grande watershed in the United States and Mexico. 90% of this population is distributed in 14 border cities experiencing high growth rates of around 3% (UNEP) The river is very important in everyday life in populations living on it or its watershed, often the sole source of water they have access to. It is also a major source of water for agriculture on both sides of the border. The Rio Grande also is the source of water for many industrial operations. This has been a particularly large source of water use since the North American Trade Agreement was enacted and product assembly plants were built near the border. The Rio Grande has experienced many and ongoing instances of over allocation of water resources and pollution, leading to disruption of the ability of the river to meet social, economic, and ecological needs.

    Water demands from the Rio...