Abstract
The assessment of transboundary aquifers is essential for the development of groundwater management strategies and the sustainable use of groundwater resources. The Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP) is a joint effort by the United States and Mexico to evaluate shared aquifers. This study examines the TAAP Cooperative Framework as a guide for further transboundary groundwater collaboration. We compared lessons learned from six transboundary aquifers that currently have mechanisms for groundwater collaboration to identify common elements of collaboration. Though the TAAP Cooperative Framework governs an assessment-only program, the elements of collaboration included are consistent with the principles of other institutional agreements around the world. Importantly, all the analyzed agreements included a knowledge-improvement phase, which is the main objective of the TAAP Cooperative Framework. The present study finds evidence of successful outcomes within the TAAP Cooperative Framework consistent with available transboundary groundwater management agreements, demonstrating that this approach is suited to serve as a model for those wishing to engage in transborder aquifer assessments. Furthermore, the TAAP elements of collaboration can help to establish the meaningful and robust binational cooperation necessary for the development of U.S.-Mexico groundwater management agreements at the aquifer level.
Highlights
Groundwater is an important source of fresh water for populations and the environment
We compared the elements of collaboration in the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP) Cooperative Framework with the components of six transboundary groundwater collaboration agreements
This section describes the history of transboundary groundwater collaboration around the world and the mechanisms of collaboration included in the analyzed groundwater agreements
Summary
Groundwater is an important source of fresh water for populations and the environment. Fresh water represents only 2.8% of the total water resources in the world, with. Transboundary rivers, lakes, and aquifers are home to over 70% of the world’s population and supply water for around 60% of global food production [2]. Aquifer System in Jordan and Saudi Arabia (Figure 1). Geographically widespread, these aquifers represent only 1% of identified transboundary aquifers, a proportion that is quite different from the proportion of transboundary river basins with international basin agreements. While there are 310 transboundary river basins around the world, a total of 688 transboundary basin agreements have been signed between 1820 and 2007 [4,5,6].
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