U.S.-Mexico Environmental 

Program: Border 2020

Good Neighbor Environmental Board

June 27-28, 2012
The U.S.- Mexico Border Region
Population, Quality of Life, and 

Environmental Challenges

• Estimated current population ~ 14M

• Projection for 2020: 22 million

U.S.: 10 million

Mexico: 12 million

• Poverty/unemployment significantly higher that 

national average (except SD County)

• Persistent issues remain:

• Poor air quality 

• Inadequate and insufficient infrastructure

• Improper management of hazardous and 

solid wastes
Border 2012 Accomplishments

Goal 1: Reduce Water Pollution

• Connected 513,000 households to wastewater 

and 55,000 households to safe drinking water. 

• Benefited 8.5 million border residents through 

wastewater and drinking water improvement 

projects. 
Border 2012 Accomplishments

Goal 1: Reduce Water Pollution

– Composting toilets

– Harvesting of stormwater

– Treatment wetlands

– Measurement of water quality and flows in 

various rivers

– Retention walls with used tires 

– Pervious pavement projects

– Biodiesel from used oil

– 1000’s of tons of garbage and tires collected
Border 2012 Accomplishments

Goal 2: Reduce Air Pollution

• O&M of extensive air monitoring 

network along the border to

monitor ambient air quality

• Retrofitted over 250 diesel 

trucks/school buses to reduce 

diesel emissions

• Completed climate change 

action plans in Baja California 

and Sonora energy use
Border 2012 Accomplishments

Goal 3: Reduce Land Pollution

• More than 12M scrap tires removed 

from clandestine dump sites along the 

border

• Removed 570 tons of e-waste from 

illegal dump sites

• Collected 137 tons of trash, 4112 

bikes, 264 vehicles from 177 sites in 

Tohono O’odham Nation

• ADEQ created border trash cleanup 

tracking website
Border 2012 Accomplishments

Goal 4: Environmental Health

• Pesticide Safety “Train-the-Trainer” Workshops

– Trained 327 Pesticide Safety Educators in AZ and 

CA (2007-2010)

– Educated over 36,000 agricultural workers 

• Obsolete Pesticides Collection Events 

– Conducted events in California, Sonora, and 

Tamaulipas

– Removed over 160,000 pounds of obsolete 

pesticides
Border 2012 Accomplishments

Goal 5: Emergency Preparedness & Response 

– All Mexican sister cities received basic 

HazMat equipment (in partnership with NORTHCOM)

– Created 15 sister city emergency contingency plans

– Updated sister city plans in Texas-Coahuila to 

address change in demographics, transportation and 

community services
A New Approach

U.S.-Mexico 

Environmental Program:

Border 2020
Key Emphasis of Border 2020

• 8-year implementation (through 2020)

• Regional Workgroups/Task Forces

• Five Fundamental Strategies: 

• Climate Change

• Underserved Communities

• Children’s & Environmental Health

• Environmental Education

• Strengthening Tribal, State, Federal 

and International Partnerships

• 2-Year Action Plans to Account for 

Resource/Priority Changes

• Increased focus on leveraging federal, 

state, local resources
Border 2020 Goals

Goal 1

Reduce Air Pollution

Goal 2

Improve Access to 

Clean and Safe Water

Goal 3

Promote Materials 

Management and Clean 

Sites

Goal 4

Enhance Joint Preparedness 

for Environmental Response

Goal 5

Enhance Compliance Assurance 

and Environmental Stewardship
Goal 1: Reduce Air Pollution

• Air Pollution Reductions in 4 

airsheds

• Promote energy efficiency and 

renewable energy

• Maintain effective air quality 

monitoring networks and timely 

access to air quality data

• Reduce vehicle emissions and 

identify strategies to reduce 

idling at ports-of-entry
Goal 2: Improve Access to Clean and 

Safe Water

1. By 2015, increase homes 

connected to safe DW and WW 

treatment

1. ~ 5000 homes with DW

2. ~ 42,000 homes with WW 

treatment

2. Help DW and WW utilities become 

more efficient and sustainable

3. Reduce binational surface water 

contamination in 4 priority 

watersheds

4. Improve access to water quality 

data and to beach alerts
Location: Texas/ 

Tamaulipas

Arizona/

Sonora

California/

Baja 

California

California/ 

Baja 

California

Water 

body:

Lower Rio 

Grande 

below 

Falcon 

Santa 

Cruz 

River

New River Tijuana 

River 

Pollutants: bacteria

bacteria, 

sediment, 

cadmium, 

cyanide

bacteria, 

trash, 

BOD, 

phosphates

bacteria, 

trash, 

sediment

Goal 2 – Objective 3: Geographic Focus
Goal 2- Obj. 4: IBWC GIS web portal 
Goal 3: Promote Materials 

Management and Waste Management 

and Clean Sites 

• Develop capacity to improve 

collection and recycling of ewaste, plastics, and trash

• Develop institutional capacity to 

clean up contaminated sites

• Continue to share information on 

border area hazardous waste 

facilities
Goal 4: Enhance Joint Preparedness 

for Environmental Response

• Update 8 sister city joint 

contingency plans with latest 

protocols and methodologies

• Facilitate easier 

transboundary movement of 

equipment and personnel

• Continue updating the U.S.-

Mexico Joint Contingency Plan
Goal 5: Enhance Compliance Assurance 

and Environmental Stewardship

• Improve information sharing 

between enforcement agencies on 

cross-border hazardous waste 

movement

• Ongoing port-of-entry HW 

inspections

• Use Toxics Release Inventory (US) 

and RETC (Mexico) annually to 

identify top emitters
Border 2020 2-Year Action Plans
New U.S.-Mexico Environment 

Agreement Timeline

July 2012

• Response to Comments Document

August 8th 2012

• Signing Ceremony to launch Border 2020 

(Tijuana)

August 8th & 9th 2012 

• National Coordinators Meeting (Tijuana)

• Draft Action Plans presented 

January 2013

• Final 2-year Regional Action Plans in place
U.S.-Mexico Environmental 

Program: Border 2020

Good Neighbor Environmental Board

June 27-28, 2012