The waters in any case are shared by both nations. The book addresses underground reservoirs for the most part - a subject rarely addressed in a meaningful fashion. Here the authors provide superb coverage of water quality and quantity issues in their particular corner of the borderlands.
Divided Waters won the 1995 Frontera International Excellence award, sponsored by the Fundacion Margarita Miranda de Mascarenas in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The award recognizes individuals who have worked to improve the quality of life along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
No one can doubt that the authors, as well as the Udall Center, have shown great commitment to this region. In academic fashion, the authors review socioeconomic dividing lines as well as their continued diatribes against the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC).
Perhaps the future of the border lies in the reinventing of it. Transboundary resource issues must be a subject that can be dealt with at federal and local levels. Showing how this can occur, the authors provide an exemplary model for other areas of the borderlands.
Boundaries can be flashpoints over issues that neighbors have in common, such as environmental pollution. Natural resources are especially likely to present problems because of their increasing scarcity and value. Further, national boundaries often intersect the boundaries of natural systems, and actions taken by one nation that might affect the atmosphere, oceans, airsheds, watersheds, aquifers, wildlife migration corridors, and other shared resources are bound to affect the interests of other nations. (pp. 3-4)Divided Waters is a superb book and one that deserves attention from any serious border watcher. Water-related issues are the hidden story of the 1990s that will be headline news in the decade to come.Nogales residents are in a good position to judge the quality of their own water service but may find it difficult to determine what is happening in other parts of the city. Official pronouncements in the media often offer a much more positive view of the city's water situation than is apparent to individual residents. (pp. 121-122)
No input or review was sought from border residents until very late in the plan's (the EPA/SEDUE Integrated Environmental Plan for the Mexico-United States Border Area or IBEP) development. Nogales was not even included in the plan until Santa Cruz County officials learned of the omission and complained tot he EPA a month before the plan's release in August 1991. (pp. 198-199)
While not often cited for the good example it provides, the U.S.-Mexico border has much to teach the world; despite great economic and cultural disparities, the two nations have been able since 1848 to resolve most of their differences peacefully. Further, a unique border culture has evolved, one that displays many of the best characteristics of both nations. (p. 228)
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