| US-MX BORDER GROWING WATER SMART

GWS was launched in the United States in 2017 and has reached over 600 planners, elected officials, and water resource managers across the Colorado River basin states including Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and California. The GWS program empowers local leaders to implement plans and policies that support community and regional water resilience. We are planning to use the GWS expertise and methodology in the border cities, with some adaptations to meet the needs of border communities.

Sonoran Institute, with support from the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, started the US-MX Border Growing Water Smart initiative in 2021 by assessing shared water and associated land use challenges for communities along the US-Mexico border. Over 30 experts on cross-border issues were interviewed in 2022 to help guide the development of this program including a convening of US-MX subject matter and regional experts in April 2022 to review and affirm opportunities.

Supported by the overall acceptance and positive feedback in the U.S. -Mexico Border Assessment, Sonoran Institute hosted listening sessions for two sister cities along the U.S.-Mexico border (Ambos Nogales and Mexicali-Calexico) with promising results and an overall perception of great opportunities for the GWS program implementation along the border.