Course Description
The Lower Rio Grande/Rio Bravo (LRG/RB) is experiencing increasing salinity, which affects millions of people living in the Texas/Tamaulipas region who rely on the LRG/RB for domestic, commercial and industrial water use, as well as irrigation. Increasing salinity in the LRG/RB harms agricultural production, which is the major source of income on both the Mexican and the U.S. sides of the river. The purpose of this Spring 2025 PRP class to to assist the US and Mexican governments in negotiations regarding how to prevent salts from entering the lower Rio Grande/Rio Bravo (LRG/RB) river between the Falcon Reservoir and the Gulf Coast and controlling the salinity of the LRG/RB. The class will evaluate options for water management, existing facility operational improvements, and construction of new infrastructure to prevent salinization and remove salts. Class members will participate in the negotiations between the Mexican and US governments.
This is a joint class between The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) and professionals in two Mexican universities, Mexico’s National Autonomous Univeristy of Mexico (UNAM) and UDLAP, the Universidad de las Americas, - Puebla.
This project has six client agencies of the Mexican and United States (US) governments:
* International agencies: International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) and the Comisión Internacional de Limits y Aguas (CILA)
* Federal agencies: US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPS) and Mexico’s Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA)
* State and regional agencies: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and Tamaulipas’ state water agency, Comisión Estatal del Agua de Tamaulipas.
During Fall 2024, a LBJ School class developed, dsocumented, and implemented methods to identify the sources and consequences of salinization of the LRG/RB. These methods include geographical information systems (ARC-INFO), water quality mass balance assessments (using OASIS software), modelling of groundwater flows, rainfall, evapo-transpiration, and economic assessment of the impacts of salinity on domestic users and irrigators in the LRG/RB. The Fall 2024 analyses identified a variety of policy options including infrastructure construction, water/wastewater treatment, facility operation improvements, and pollution prevention. Both Mexico and the US Governments wish to move forward to recommend policy options for action. The two governments have funded the LBJ School and UNAM to help them understand the reasons for the increased salinity in the LRG/RB and to provide methods to evaluate policy options.
Members of this class will have an opportunity facilitate negotiations by provding technical support to the six participating agencies. Members of the staff of Texas’ Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) assist the class members in these efforts. TCEQ is located at 12100 Park 35 Circle in Austin. TCEQ is the fourth largest environmental agency in the United States and employs approximately 2,780 employees, has 69 regional offices, and a $378 million operating budget for the 2021 fiscal year. Two key scientists also assist the class, Dan Sheer, Ph.D., retired President of Hydrologics and Miguel Pavon, who is a lead expert in geographical information systems and remote sensing technnologies at in the Office of the Commissioner of Texas Land Management.
One of the most productive elements of US-Mexican relations in 2024 is trans-boundary environmental quality, particularly between Texas and its four bordering Mexican states: Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and Chihuahua. The two nations have worked together effectively for decades since the North American Free Trade Agreement to reduce air, water, solid and hazardous waste pollution, improve the border air and water quality, and address (but by no means resolve) water quantity and access conflicts. One of the reasons for the success in reducing pollution and improving ambient environmental quality along the Texas-Mexico border is the close cooperation between Texas and its Mexican border states through initiatives such as Border 2000, Border 2012, Border 2020 and now Border 2025. Texas has taken an institutional lead for two regional cooperative groups, the so-called four-state process (Texas, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila) and three-state process (Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua).
Students enrolled in the class are eligible to travel to Mexico during the academic year. Funding also is available for Summer 2025 for any class member who wishes to be embedded in one of Mexico’s environmental agencies for an internship through the Global Career Launch-Mexico program of Texas Global. Funds from the Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies are also available to support students who wish to provide research and consulting services to Mexican governmental agencies along the border and in Mexico City. Supplemental funding sources include research contracts at UT, International Student Fee Scholarships, Curtis W. Meadows, Jr. Social Enterprise Fellows, Crook Fellowships, LBJ School-based support for internships, or from other sources, including scholarships and fellowships. SEE MORE IN SYLLABUS