Researchers solve one of the Borderlands’ biggest water puzzles
The U.S. and Mexico share underground water basins that span more than 121,500 square miles of the Borderlands. But the two countries have no regulations for managing those common aquifers, in part, because historically very little was known about them. That’s changing. On Dec. 28, researchers released the first complete map of the groundwater basins that span the U.S.-Mexico boundary…. With water becoming an increasingly precious resource in the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, the researchers hope the new map will provide a basis for developing a binational legal framework to regulate the underground waters’ management…. It shows five shared aquifers between Baja California and California, 26 between Sonora and Arizona, and 33 between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas.