Abstract
Water quantities of the Lower Rio Grande were apportioned between Mexico and Texas through a treaty in 1944. The treaty defines the mandate of the International Boundary and Water Commission, an international institution composed of sections representing both Mexico and the United States for addressing boundary issues. The Commission's responsibilities include water quality issues. Since this time, increased industrialization and population growth along the international border have contributed to a decline in environmental quality of the region. Such circumstances have influenced cooperative efforts at all levels of government between the two nations. This thesis concentrates on federal and international cooperation to address fecal coliform, salinity, and pesticide contamination of the Lower Rio Grande (downstream from Laredo, Texas/Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas to the Gulf of Mexico) and the impacts on human health from waterbome diseases. The central questions of this thesis concern the potential impacts of recent binational cooperation between Mexico and the United States in addressing water quality improvement and water-related health issues of the Lower Rio Grande, the types of contaminants receiving attention from cooperation, the lessons regarding the links between economic development, human health, and ecological integrity demonstrated in the Rio Grande Basin, and the influence of the established institutional structure on improving water quality of the Lower Rio Grande.
Crouch, Kellie Gene (1997). International cooperation between the United States and Mexico: addressing water quality of the Lower Rio Grande. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1997 -THESIS -C78.