Collateral Damage: How the San Diego-Imperial Valley Water Agreement Affects the Mexican Side of the Border

Abstract

This article contends that local water practices are a fundamental element of border water politics. It asks who makes decisions concerning the distribution of binational water resources, how are these decisions made, and how do they get implemented. The analysis examines the particular case of San Diego-Imperial Valley water transfers within the context of water overallocation and urbanization in the Colorado River basin in Southern California and how this dynamic of transfers will affect the Mexican side of the binational Colorado Delta (Imperial Valley-Mexicali).