For a group of students in their third year at Escuela Secundaria Técnica No. 117 “Guillermo González Camarena,” water cuts were a daily reality that disrupted their home life, education and daily routines. But rather than simply endure the crisis, these teenagers decided to find a solution.

Now, their innovative response has earned them recognition as one of just 33 global finalists for the 2026 Zayed Sustainability Prize. The students are competing against projects from 173 countries for up to $150,000 in funding with their self-made hydrostations — modular machines that literally pull drinking water out of thin air.

From water crisis to community innovation

The students’ journey from victim to innovator reflects what their teacher, Professor Rogelio Monreal Moreno, calls a transformation “from worry to action, and from action to consciousness.” During the peak of the crisis, these students made a decision that would change their entire approach to learning.

“Finding the problem was the easiest part,” one student explained. The challenge was creating a solution that would work independently of existing infrastructure.

By combining solar power with Peltier technology, the students were able to extract moisture from humid air, a process that produces clean water continuously, without drilling, chemicals or dependence on external suppliers. The teens designed and assembled the hydrostations themselves, generating water to feed school gardens, drinking fountains and small planters called “BioCápsulas” in which they grow produce.

The project extends far beyond water production. The students have created what they call “AD COGNIS,” a complete educational ecosystem that transforms their school into a living laboratory of science and sustainability. Through the “ECOmunidad” digital platform, students track data, share progress and participate in environmental challenges. The “ECOnocedor” program develops leadership skills, STEM capabilities (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) as well as community service.

“More than learning content, students have learned to see themselves as capable of sustaining something real,” Monreal Moreno explained. “This project took them out of the role of ‘completing an assignment’ and put them in the role of understanding a problem in their environment and acting on it.”

Competing on the global stage

The Zayed Sustainability Prize, established in 2008, recognizes innovative solutions that improve access to healthcare, food, energy, water and climate resilience. Previous winners have impacted over 400 million people worldwide. This year’s competition is particularly fierce, with entries increasing by 30% over last year.

The Mexican students face formidable competition in the Global High Schools category. They’re up against initiatives like Kenya’s solar-powered vaccine refrigeration serving over 1 million people, South Korea’s disease-free potato production benefiting 15 million people, and Rwanda’s smart water ATMs serving over 500,000 people.

What distinguishes the Mexican project is its comprehensive educational approach that goes beyond just technology. While many finalist projects address water access, these students have created both the technical solution and an entire framework for environmental education and leadership development.

Student voices and family pride

For the students involved, the recognition brings both excitement and responsibility. “My parents are happy and proud,” shared one participant, capturing the community support behind the project. Another reflected on the broader significance: “Getting to this prize is a great inspiration for many young people.”

The project has surprised fellow classmates and engaged students in fields ranging from graphic design to photography — all contributing to prototype development and project documentation. Monreal Moreno observed students transitioning from asking “what if it doesn’t work?” to declaring “let’s make it better.”

No inventions come without challenges, and water scarcity wasn’t the only obstacle they faced. The students encountered multiple hurdles in developing their solution. For one student, the hardest part was the development of the idea. “It takes a lot of creativity to figure out how to make it better, and it takes a high level of research.” Another student noted that while the project has proved successful locally, the group is still “missing a way to industrialize it,” scaling their solution beyond their school.

The educational impact extends beyond technical skills. Students have developed teamwork, communication and organizational abilities, but most importantly, what Monreal Moreno describes as “authentic self-confidence, the kind that emerges when their work makes sense and serves others.”

Looking to Abu Dhabi and beyond

The winners will be announced at the Zayed Sustainability Prize ceremony on Jan. 13, 2026, during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. At the time of writing, the students were working to raise funds for the international trip, in itself an exercise in learning project management and employing community engagement.

Regardless of the competition outcome, the project already represents something bigger: a model for how technical education can address real-world problems while developing the next generation of environmental leaders. The students plan to expand their network to other schools, sharing open-source manuals and promoting environmental self-sufficiency.

Their initiative demonstrates that innovative sustainability solutions can emerge from anywhere, and especially from young people with the creativity and determination to transform challenges into opportunities. In a region that faced “day zero” for its water supply, these students have created not just a technological solution, but a new way of thinking about education, community resilience and youth leadership.

As student Victoria explained, “The project inspires us because we’re learning by doing something very useful.” Her words capture what makes this initiative so remarkable — students addressing real problems while transforming their own education in the process, proving that the most powerful solutions often flow from genuine understanding and determination.

Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog or follow her on Instagram.

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An anticipated 2.4 billion pesos (US $133.6 million) will be invested in the dam’s development between 2025 and 2027. El Novillo is expected to supply around 53 liters of water per second once operational, providing water to around 250,000 residents. The project will also generate roughly 700 direct and 1,400 indirect jobs.

In addition to the dam, there are plans to develop a 15-kilometer aqueduct and elevated tanks to transport stored water to the distribution systems that supply the urban area of La Paz, explained the Director of the National Water Commission’s (Conagua) Efraín Morales López.  

The Governor of Baja California Sur, Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío, said the dam is the first hydraulic project of this magnitude to be undertaken in the state in over 30 years. He suggested that the dam be named “La Mujer Perseverante” (The Persevering Woman). 

Baja California Sur has experienced significant population growth in recent years, while access to water has remained challenging due to the region’s desert climate. 

The project is expected to enhance self-sufficiency and boost long-term water security, while mitigating dependence on other, more vulnerable sources.

As Mexico’s construction sector declines, these states are bucking the trend with positive results

The dam is part of larger efforts by the government to strengthen water resilience in one of the most water-stressed areas in Mexico. It will be publicly financed, and construction will be overseen by Conagua.  

The Baja Sur investment forms part of plans for broader federal financing of strategic infrastructure by 2026, much of which is aimed at enhancing water security, to support regional wellbeing and economic growth.   

With reports from Eje Central

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According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the signing of Minute No. 333 targets the decades-long Tijuana River sewage crisis that has been a point of contention between the U.S. and Mexico.

Monday’s agreement allows the U.S. and Mexican Sections of the International Boundary and Water Commission to jointly develop infrastructure projects and enhanced monitoring strategies.

In a social media post, EPA Administrator Lee M. Zeldin said the agreement outlines “the Mexico-side infrastructure projects … and planning for operation and maintenance of critical sites and systems that will account for future population growth in Tijuana.”

The commission was convened in accordance with Article 3 of the 1944 U.S.-Mexico water treaty, by which the governments “agree to give preferential attention to the solution of all border sanitation problems.” 

Minute 333 builds on the July 24, 2025, Memorandum of Understanding Addressing the Sanitation and Environmental Crisis in the Tijuana-San Diego Region (MOU) signed in Mexico City by Zeldin and Mexican Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena.

In the MOU, Mexico agreed to begin work soon on US $93 million worth of improvements to the Tijuana sewage system, while also committing to enhanced maintenance projects.

Minute 333 calls for a number of sanitation projects on the Mexican side that were specified in the MOU, including:

• Doubled treatment capacity and installation of an ocean outfall at a wastewater treatment plant in southwestern Tijuana, far enough out to sea to prevent any threat to San Diego beaches. 
• A sediment basin to capture polluted runoff in the Matadero Canyon watershed that straddles the border.
• A Tijuana water infrastructure master plan to ensure that sufficient water infrastructure is planned and constructed commensurate with anticipated population growth.
• A new wastewater treatment plant about 5 miles south of the U.S. border.
• Implementation of best practices for stormwater management and runoff control to reduce inflow rates and downstream deposition of trash and sediment.
• Funds set aside for maintenance.

EPA officials are saying that the improvements will not cost U.S. taxpayers, but Minute 333 does call for a cost-sharing formula for cleaning and sediment-dredging in the Tijuana River.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Mexico with a 5% tariff on imports if it did not resolve the water delivery issue stipulated in the 1944 treaty. A few days later, he demanded that Mexico resolve the water and sewage problems that affect residents of California.

Earlier this week, the neighboring countries reached an understanding on Mexico’s water deficit, while President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico will fulfill its commitments contained in Minute No. 333.

With reports from Reuters, El País, NBC San Diego and Proceso

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The Mexican and U.S. governments announced on Friday that they had “reached an understanding on water management for the current cycle and the previous cycle’s water deficit under the 1944 Water Treaty.”

The third of five points in a “Mexico-U.S. Joint Communiqué on Water Distribution” states that “Mexico intends to release 202,000 acre-feet of water to the United States with deliveries expected to commence the week of December 15, 2025.”

It was unclear when the delivery of the 202,000 acre-feet of water would be completed.

The 2020-25 cycle of the bilateral 1944 Water Treaty concluded in late October with Mexico still owing the U.S. just over 865,000 acre-feet of water, an amount equivalent to almost 50% of the 1.75 million acre-feet of water it is required to send across the northern border every five years from six tributaries of the Rio Grande.

Mexico will need to make up the shortfall in the 2025-30 cycle of the treaty. Its capacity to meet its treaty obligations in the past five-year cycle was hindered by drought conditions that were particularly severe in the north of the country.

The understanding the Mexican and U.S. governments reached on Friday came four days after U.S. President Donald Trump noted in a social media post that “Mexico still owes the U.S over 800,000 acre-feet of water for failing to comply with our Treaty over the past five years.”

US blames Texas crop losses on Mexico’s missed water deliveries

He wrote that “the U.S needs Mexico to release 200,000 acre-feet of water before December 31st,” before making one of his trademark tariff threats.

“As of now, Mexico is not responding, and it is very unfair to our U.S. Farmers who deserve this much needed water. That is why I have authorized documentation to impose a 5% Tariff on Mexico if this water isn’t released, IMMEDIATELY,” wrote Trump, whose administration has already imposed tariffs on a range of Mexican products.

After the tariff threat, Mexican officials engaged with Trump administration representatives in a series of meetings.

In a statement, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said that “in recent weeks, both countries have worked intensively and in coordination to establish a technical roadmap that improves management of the current [treaty] cycle and addresses the deficit from the previous cycle.”

In the same statement, which includes the text of the Joint Communiqué, the SRE said that “Mexico reached an agreement with the United States to strengthen water management in the Rio Grande basin under the 1944 Water Treaty.”

“The Government of Mexico emphasizes that it has not violated any of its provisions,” the SRE said, adding that “during a period marked by an extraordinary and unprecedented drought that has affected users in both countries, Mexico has made additional deliveries, always in accordance with the Treaty, water availability, and the operational and infrastructure limitations of the region.”

“… The actions taken over the past year demonstrate that Mexico is meeting its obligations according to actual water availability, without affecting the human right to water and food production, and will continue to do so under the Treaty and through binational cooperation,” the ministry said.

For her part, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins portrayed Mexico’s commitment to promptly begin transferring 202,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. as a significant win for American farmers.

“President Trump continues to put American farmers first and is finally holding our international partners accountable to their obligations and commitments. Once again, America is being treated fairly,” she said.

“Farmers across South Texas have been reeling from the uncertainty caused by the lack of water. Now they can expect the resources promised to them, thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” Rollins said.

She thanked Mexico “for their willingness to abide by the treaty and return to good standing with their past obligations,” but added that:

“President Trump has been very clear: if Mexico continues to violate its commitments, the United States reserves the right and will impose 5% tariffs on Mexican products.”

Bilateral water negotiations are ongoing 

The Mexico-U.S. Joint Communiqué also states that “both countries acknowledge the critical importance of water sharing obligations under the 1944 Treaty and their impact on our citizens, and reaffirm the need to increase engagement to improve timely management of water.”

It says that “a series of actions to meet the treaty obligations have been reviewed, including timely repayment of the outstanding deficit from the previous water cycle, in accordance to the 1944 Water Treaty.”

“The two governments are in negotiations and intend to finalize the plan by January 31, 2026,” the communiqué adds.

The fifth and final point of the communiqué reads:

“Both countries concur on the importance of continuing to work cooperatively within the framework of the 1944 Water Treaty and the CILA/IBWC. In the event of noncompliance, each country can act sovereignly, in accordance to its national interests, subject to its international treaty obligations.”

The acronyms CILA (Spanish) and IBWC refer to the International Boundary and Water Commission, a 136-year-old body that is responsible for applying the boundary and water treaties between the United States and Mexico and settling differences that may arise in their application.

Sheinbaum: Water deliveries to US won’t adversely affect Mexico

At her morning press conference on Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters that Mexico is not handing over water that “we don’t have” or whose delivery to the U.S. will affect availability for human consumption and agricultural purposes.

💧”No es que estemos entregando más de lo que dice el tratado y tampoco estamos dando el agua eh que no tenemos o afectando al consumo humano y a la agricultura en México”, la presidenta Sheinbaum señala que con EU se logró un acuerdo para entregar el agua en más tiempo y en el… pic.twitter.com/5FcXo9Wc8q

— Animal Político (@Pajaropolitico) December 15, 2025

The president of Mexico’s National Agriculture Council, Jorge Esteve, has raised concerns about the risk water deliveries to the U.S. pose to water availability for human consumption and agriculture in Mexico.

Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico is not delivering more water than is required under the terms of the 1944 treaty.

Sheinbaum indicated that the delivery of the 202,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. won’t be completed until next year, as she said it wasn’t possible to transfer such a quantity of water by Dec. 31, the deadline set by Trump in his social media post.

“An agreement was reached to deliver it in more time,” she said.

Sheinbaum also said that Mexican officials had pointed out to their U.S. counterparts that Mexico’s failure to meet its treaty obligations during the previous five-year cycle wasn’t due to a lack of will but rather a lack of rain.

Mexico News Daily 

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NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — Silvia Fernández Gallardo Boone leaned over a stream of water rushing through a concrete chute at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

“Smell it!” she said, beaming.

Odorless, treated wastewater flowed into the Coyote Arroyo, or creek, then the Rio Grande. Mere months earlier, more than 12 million gallons of raw sewage were leaking every day into the river and groundwater in Nuevo Laredo. After repairs to the treatment plant, to Fernández Gallardo’s delight, the flow of untreated wastewater has been significantly reduced.

“Being on the border, we really live our lives on both sides of the river,” Fernández Gallardo said, looking out at the treatment plant. “We all have a stake in taking care of the river.”

When Carmen Lilia Canturosas was elected mayor of Nuevo Laredo in 2021, deferred maintenance had debilitated the plant. To make matters worse, broken sewer lines were leaking wastewater onto city streets. Canturosas, re-elected in 2024, threw her support behind overhauling Nuevo Laredo’s wastewater and sewer system.

Fernández Gallardo, an architect by training, was appointed general manager of the Potable Water and Sanitation Commission (Comisión de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado), known by its Spanish acronym COMAPA. In 2023, COMAPA broke ground on an $80 million project, backed by U.S. and Mexican institutions, to repair the failing wastewater treatment plant and damaged sewer lines. The North American Development Bank (NADBank) issued the largest grant for wastewater improvements in its 30-year history.

Shared waterways like the Rio Grande have been sites of cooperation between the two countries, but also points of contention. Nuevo Laredo’s wastewater overhaul is the latest bet that the U.S. and Mexico can work together to improve water quality and the environment.

But the project is reaching fruition as tensions mount between the U.S. and Mexico under the second Trump presidency. Mexico once again has fallen short on its treaty commitment to share Rio Grande water with the United States. Meanwhile, Trump’s tariff demands have cast a shadow over trade hubs like Laredo-Nuevo Laredo.

Far from the policy disputes of Washington, D.C., officials like Fernández Gallardo are still counting on binational collaboration to yield tangible benefits for local residents.

“Rehabilitating the Rio Bravo doesn’t just mean improving local environmental conditions,” she wrote in a statement to Inside Climate News, using the Mexican name for the river. “It also represents an opportunity to move toward shared water security between Mexico and the United States.”

Monitoring water quality

The day before Fernández Gallardo toured the plant, Martin Castro and Tom Vaughan were on the other side of the border, knee deep in the Rio Grande. Four Border Patrol officers peered out from an outcropping above the river and asked what they were doing.

Castro, watershed science director at the Rio Grande International Study Center, and Vaughan, a center co-founder and emeritus biology professor at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, calmly explained that they were taking water quality samples. A few minutes later, the officers left.

The pair were collecting samples to contribute to an extensive database on the river’s water quality, as they do every month.

On that late October day, Border Patrol and National Guard troops far outnumbered fishermen and other recreational visitors to the Rio Grande. It’s not only the law enforcement presence that makes environmental protection on the Rio Grande unique.

As an international river, the Rio Grande was initially excluded from the Texas Clean Rivers Program. The collaborative effort monitors and protects the state’s water resources. Vaughan was among those who advocated in the 1990s for the Rio Grande to be included.

The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), a federal agency that enforces the border and water agreements, eventually took over water quality monitoring on the river. IBWC data from the Rio Grande now feeds into the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s Clean Rivers Program.

For more than 1,200 miles, the Rio Grande snakes between Texas and Mexico, crossing remote deserts and urban areas before reaching its delta at the Gulf of Mexico. IBWC partners with organizations like the Rio Grande study center to collect water samples at 119 stations. Monitoring at eight stations in El Paso was suspended in 2023 because of border security installations. IBWC spokesperson Frank Fisher said sampling has been re-established at all but three sites.

Castro and Vaughan collected samples to send to a certified laboratory. They record other measurements themselves, such as turbidity using a Secchi disk.

“Upriver, I would swim in it,” Vaughan said, referring to the Rio Grande upstream of the bend in the river that wraps around Laredo. “If I was really thirsty, I might drink it.”

But he explained that sewage downstream of the city makes the water unsafe for swimming or other contact recreation. This part of the Rio Grande below the Amistad Reservoir, known as segment 2304, exceeds Texas standards for bacteria.

In this stretch of the river, the highest readings for E. coli, the indicator for bacteria, are downstream of Laredo and the wastewater discharges from Nuevo Laredo, according to IBWC’s 2024 Rio Grande summary report. At the Pipeline Crossing and El Cenizo sites, E. coli readings were 240,000 parts per 100 milliliters. That is nearly 2,000 times the state’s water quality standard of 126 parts.

The IBWC report warns of “serious health risks” and that the water is unsuitable for recreational activities or consumption. The report attributes the high bacteria levels to wastewater infrastructure allowing sewage to enter the river.

IBWC’s Fisher said bacteria levels are elevated in other parts of the river including in the urban areas of El Paso/Ciudad Juárez, Del Rio/Ciudad Acuña, Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras, and in Hidalgo County.

“TCEQ is committed to advancing collaboration among federal, state, and binational partners to improve water quality and resilience in the border region,” said Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokesperson Victoria Cann.

Cann referenced the Lower Rio Grande Water Quality Initiative as one example of the agency’s efforts to improve water management. The initiative aims to “restore, protect and improve” water quality on the Lower Rio Grande downstream of Falcon Reservoir. The group recently completed an 18-month binational salinity study, according to Cann.

Cleaning up the Rio Grande

It’s one thing to collect data on the river’s water quality. It’s another to act on that data. For decades, the U.S. and Mexico have debated how to improve the environment and sanitation along their nearly 2,000-mile border.

The 1944 water treaty between the two countries entrusted border sanitation issues to the IBWC. As new problems cropped up — like sewage flowing downhill from Mexico into the U.S. — new agreements, known as minutes, were added to the treaty. In 1989, the U.S. and Mexico partnered to build a wastewater treatment plant in Nuevo Laredo.

After the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was adopted in 1994, Nuevo Laredo and other border cities grew rapidly. Nuevo Laredo’s wastewater treatment plant opened in 1996. Binational wastewater treatment plants were also built in Tijuana, Baja California and Nogales, Arizona.

In a side agreement to NAFTA, the two countries created the NADBank, a binational development bank to fund infrastructure on the border.

Nuevo Laredo’s population has almost doubled since 1994, to nearly half a million people. Laredo, with about 260,000 people, is now the busiest land port for international trade in the United States.

But ongoing maintenance of wastewater infrastructure became a sticking point. By the time NAFTA was renegotiated in 2020 — and renamed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — border wastewater treatment plants were in urgent need of repairs. Sewage flowing from Tijuana into Southern California became an international dispute.

Colorado State University emeritus political scientist Stephen Mumme, an expert on U.S.-Mexico relations, partially attributes maintenance problems to the “constant churn” in Mexican politics, in which local administrations change every three years.

Mexican cities also struggle to finance long-term infrastructure projects and collect monthly bills from ratepayers. Sanitation competes with other urgent public works in border cities buckling under rapid growth.

“The capacity to engage in the type of financing and planning that is often taken for granted in American cities is not yet fully realized in Mexican cities, even in border cities,” Mumme said.

Jesús Frausto Ortega, coordinator of the water management graduate program at Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Monterrey, Mexico, said that previous efforts to stop the flow of sewage in Nuevo Laredo were like paving over a pothole.

“You could fix one part, but there was no holistic solution,” said Frausto Ortega, who previously worked in Nuevo Laredo.

He said Mexican cities often lack political will to invest in sanitation infrastructure.

“Traditionally, officials don’t invest in projects that are underground,” he said. “[That’s because] the public doesn’t see the project and we don’t have reliable accountability mechanisms.”

COMAPA’s Fernández Gallardo said she heard this sentiment from other public officials.

“Why would you want to invest in sewer lines?” she remembers them asking. “That’s like burying money.”

Binational investment

Fernández Gallardo and Canturosas, the mayor, persisted. They found support among U.S. officials, including then U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar and then IBWC Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner. NADBank provided an initial $650,000 grant to develop plans for the wastewater treatment plant and collapsed sewer lines.

Support started to pour in. NADBank committed $22 million from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Border Environment Infrastructure Fund. Mexican agencies, including COMAPA, committed another $53 million. The IBWC pitched in $2 million, and a commercial loan of $6 million rounded out the budget.

IBWC’s Fisher said the agency’s contribution came “as part of a long-standing practice to share the cost of extraordinary maintenance.” He said the funds were used to purchase six aerators needed for the biological process at the plant.

NADBank Managing Director John Beckham said that the significant commitments from both countries set the effort apart.

“Those are unique features of this project that are replicable,” he said. “We’re proud of it. We think it’s something that can help us in other parts of the river.”

Fernández Gallardo estimated in late October that the wastewater treatment plant’s rehabilitation was 80% complete. She said that sewage was still being discharged at 10 locations in the city, down from 27.

“You’re investing in a public good,” she said. “These are projects that you don’t see, but you feel the difference in the city.”

Fernández Gallardo acknowledged that COMAPA must prevent deferred maintenance from once again hobbling the plant. She said that going forward, 4% of funds from water bills will be designated for maintenance.

Beckham added: “[We have to] ensure that these plants can be maintained over time … To avoid cycles of every 25 years where we have to lay out $80 million.”

Martin Castro of the Rio Grande International Study Center said the upgrades are a “meaningful milestone.”

“They underscore how urgently the river needs sustained infrastructure investment,” he said. “Continued investment and binational cooperation are essential to protect water quality for both communities.”

Changing political, environmental climate

While Nuevo Laredo is making strides, extreme drought and climate change are testing the fragile balance on the binational river. The Rio Grande provides drinking water for over 6 million people in the United States and Mexico. Farmers from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico rely on it to irrigate their crops.

But experts warn that current water consumption levels cannot be sustained. The Amistad Reservoir, upstream of Laredo, hit historic lows during July 2024. Climate change will further reduce the river’s flow.

A November 2025 study led by the World Wildlife Fund found that 52% of water consumption in the Rio Grande Basin is unsustainable, causing depletion of reservoirs, aquifers and river flows. American Rivers named the Lower Rio Grande the fifth most endangered river in the United States this year.

The Rio Grande is the only source of water for Nuevo Laredo and Laredo. But sometimes the river drops so low that the pumps at the water treatment plant struggle to draw in water, Fernández Gallardo said. She touted COMAPA’s purple pipe program, which diverts treated wastewater for outdoor irrigation and industrial use, but said more must be done to conserve and re-use water.

“Without the river, we don’t have the two Laredos,” she said.

Fernández Gallardo said she would like Nuevo Laredo to directly re-use treated wastewater for domestic supply, known as direct potable reuse.

“Treated wastewater is the only water resource whose supply will always go up as the population increases,” she wrote in a statement. “[Direct reuse] would redefine the future of water on the border.”

Another Rio Grande city, El Paso, is rolling out this technology. But Fernández Gallardo knows the municipal administration’s time to execute projects is running out.

Escalating tensions between the United States and Mexico are felt locally. While Mexico increased Rio Grande water deliveries to the United States in the past year, the Trump administration has threatened Mexico with additional tariffs and even sanctions if the nation does not deliver more to Texas. Meanwhile, Mexican officials have attributed the shortfall to the ongoing drought.

The Trump administration quickly replaced several of the U.S. officials essential to the Nuevo Laredo project, including Salazar, the ambassador, and Giner, the well-liked IBWC commissioner.

The Trump administration is also moving forward with plans for a border wall through Laredo, which local organizations, including the Rio Grande International Study Center, oppose.

Water quality woes on the Rio Grande have attracted little national attention. But EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has pressured Mexico to stop the sewage flows from Tijuana. The EPA has struck agreements with Mexico to accelerate the timeline to repair the Tijuana treatment plant.

A State Department spokesperson said that the U.S. and Mexico have “launched a new era of cooperation characterized by swift and decisive actions.”

“No other bilateral relationship has a greater effect on the daily lives of the American people and President Trump and his cabinet are committed to improving the welfare, health, and prosperity of our border communities,” the spokesperson said.

The EPA also funds NADBank’s grants for wastewater infrastructure on the border. Congress has not passed a full federal budget for 2026. Nonetheless, the spending bills for environment and natural resource agencies that passed through committee maintained support for the EPA’s border wastewater programs. The Senate bill would appropriate $36 million and the House bill $45 million for border wastewater projects, comparable to recent years.

CSU’s Mumme said that the Trump administration’s increasing hostility toward Mexico could backfire.

“Trump is used to bullying his way. But that only goes so far,” he said. “Mexico does have leverage.”

Mumme said the history of cooperation shows that the U.S. and Mexico can achieve common goals, on issues from wastewater to water scarcity.

“There’s no substitute to cooperating and finding mutually beneficial solutions,” he said.

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Trump’s latest tariff threat came in a Truth Social post, but the U.S. president didn’t specify which goods the proposed 5% duty would apply to or whether USMCA-compliant products would be exempt.

“Mexico continues to violate our comprehensive Water Treaty, and this violation is seriously hurting our BEAUTIFUL TEXAS CROPS AND LIVESTOCK,” he wrote, referring to a bilateral accord that took effect 81 years ago, and which requires Mexico and the U.S. to transfer established quantities of water to each other over five-year cycles.

Trump noted that “Mexico still owes the U.S over 800,000 acre-feet of water for failing to comply with our Treaty over the past five years,” and declared that “the U.S needs Mexico to release 200,000 acre-feet of water before December 31st, and the rest must come soon after.”

“As of now, Mexico is not responding, and it is very unfair to our U.S. Farmers who deserve this much needed water. That is why I have authorized documentation to impose a 5% Tariff on Mexico if this water isn’t released, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote.

“The longer Mexico takes to release the water, the more our Farmers are hurt. Mexico has an obligation to FIX THIS NOW. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump’s post concluded.

The U.S. is already collecting a 25% tariff on Mexican goods that don’t comply with the USMCA. That duty was imposed in March to pressure Mexico to do more to stem the flow of fentanyl to the United States. The Trump administration has also imposed tariffs on a range of other Mexican products, including steel, aluminum and light and heavy vehicles.

The U.S. president’s threat of an additional 5% tariff on Mexican goods came two weeks after the U.S. Department of State said in a statement that Trump administration officials had met with Mexican officials to “discuss immediate and concrete steps Mexico would take to reduce shortfalls in water deliveries and ensure compliance with the 1944 Water Treaty.”

“The officials examined available water resources and the United States pressed for the maximum possible deliveries to Texas users,” said the statement, which also asserted that “shortfalls in Mexico’s water deliveries have exacerbated water scarcity in Texas and contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses for farmers.”

In April, the Mexican and U.S. governments announced they had reached an agreement under which Mexico would immediately deliver water to the U.S.

Prior to that agreement, Trump noted that he had “halted water shipments to Tijuana” in March, and said that his administration would “keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty, and GIVES TEXAS THE WATER THEY ARE OWED!”

Despite Mexico’s agreement in April to deliver more water to the U.S., the 2020-25 treaty cycle concluded in late October with Mexico still owing its neighbor just over 865,000 acre-feet of water, an amount equivalent to just under 50% of the 1.75 million acre-feet of water it is required to send across the northern border every five years from six tributaries of the Rio Grande.

US senators push legislation that blocks water from going to Mexico

Mexico’s failure to meet its obligations in the last five-year cycle of the 1944 water treaty was mainly due to drought, which has been particularly severe in the north of the country.

Under the treaty, the United States has to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of water from the Colorado River to Mexico every year.

According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, “the United States typically has met its Colorado River delivery requirements to Mexico pursuant to the 1944 Treaty.”

Sheinbaum confident that the proposed tariff will be averted 

At her morning press conference on Tuesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged Trump’s threat to impose an additional 5% tariff on Mexican goods that are exported to the U.S.

She said that Mexican and U.S. officials would discuss the water issue at a virtual meeting on Tuesday afternoon and expressed confidence that “we’re going to reach an agreement for the benefit of the United States and for the benefit of Mexico.”

Sheinbaum said there are two things that limits Mexico’s capacity to transfer “more water” to the United States.

“One, our country’s own water needs … and two, the size of the pipeline that takes water to the Rio Grande. [There is] a physical part that limits us,” she said.

She acknowledged that Mexico has an obligation to “comply” with the 1944 treaty, but added that its capacity to do so depends on “the amount of water there is and the amount of water that can be taken by the pipelines.”

🇲🇽🇺🇸 Sheinbaum explica por qué México no ha entregado más agua a EUA

La presidenta @Claudiashein detalló que existen dos razones que limitan a México para entregar más agua a Estados Unidos. Aun así, señaló que en la reunión de hoy se buscará lograr el mejor acuerdo posible en… pic.twitter.com/21hAGT2oRN

— Político MX (@politicomx) December 9, 2025

The president highlighted that Mexico has sent more water to the U.S. in 2025 than in previous years because there was more rain, and said that additional deliveries would be made in the final weeks of the year.

Sheinbaum declared that Mexico’s failure to fully comply with its treaty obligations “it’s not a matter of ill will.”

She added that her government is not saying to its U.S. counterpart that “we don’t want to deliver water.”

“We want to comply with the treaty, but in accordance with the characteristics we have at this time, and we’ll continue working [to deliver water] in January, February, March,” Sheinbaum said.

“That’s why I say we can come to an agreement, if there is really no other issue on the United States’ part. I hope there isn’t” she added.

The latest flare-up in the long-running water bilateral water dispute comes just days after the Mexican and U.S. presidents met at the World Cup draw in Washington, D.C.

On Monday, Sheinbaum said that Trump showed “a lot of respect toward Mexico” in the meeting, which also included Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. There was no indication that Sheinbaum and Trump spoke about water during the meeting, which largely focused on trade, according to the U.S. president

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So are these pieces of advice still relevant today? And if so, why? What’s so different and unique about water in Mexico?

I have worked in the water business for over 15 years in Mexico and have seen hundreds of water systems in businesses across the country. Although I am not a technical water expert, I do have a perspective that I think can help people make sense of the water situation in the country.

Other than crime issues, I would say that water is the biggest concern that I hear people talking about. Some people ask about the impact of nearshoring or new factories on the water supply. Others lament new home construction and the lack of water availability. And still others worry about all of the greenhouses popping up in many parts of the country, using precious water to grow crops for export to relatively water-rich countries like the U.S. and Canada.

With so much to learn on the topic, MND has created a separate content section called “Water in Mexico” and our site has constant coverage on the issues facing the country. You can see the articles here.

I also have written several articles with my perspective on the issue:

• How will nearshoring impact water?
• Microsoft and water scarcity in Mexico
• Siemens shows how industry can help solve Mexico’s water and energy challenges

In this week’s episode of MND’s Confidently Wrong podcast, we tackle the issue of Water in Mexico. Not just the dos and don’ts of drinking water, but also the things you need to know if you are looking at buying or building a house in most parts of the country. Water is not a straightforward issue in Mexico, so it’s important to be educated and informed on the topic.

Check out this week’s episode here on our Youtube channel or on Spotify here.

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.

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The Chamber of Deputies approved the bill en lo general, or in a general sense, on Wednesday, ahead of considering individual articles and proposed modifications to those articles. After considering the modifications on Thursday, the Chamber of Deputies also approved the legislation en lo particular.

All told, 328 deputies voted in favor of the legislation on Wednesday, while 131 opposed it and there were five abstentions. The numbers were similar on Thursday. The ruling Morena party and its allies supported the bill, ensuring its approval in the lower house.

The vote on Wednesday took place after dozens of farmers arrived on tractors at the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City to protest the water legislation. They blocked an entrance to the building as part of their protest against the bill, which seeks to impose tighter controls on the use of water.

As the water legislation was being debated in Mexico City, farmers also blocked highways in various parts of the country, including Zacatecas and Guanajuato, and stopped traffic headed toward international bridges between Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and El Paso, Texas. The blockades on the northern border continued on Thursday.

The approval of the water legislation came after farmers and truckers blocked highways across Mexico last week to protest the water legislation as well as low purchase prices for crops and insecurity that plagues the national highway network.

What is the water legislation seeking to do?

Among the aims of the water legislation are to establish new rules to govern the use of water in productive processes, including in the agricultural sector; to create new regulations for the issuance of new water concessions, as well as for those that have already been issued; and to ensure that water is used sustainably and is available for all Mexicans.

The director of the National Water Commission (Conagua), Efraín Morales, said last week that “the main change” put forward by the federal government in its legislation is for water to cease being seen as a “good” and instead be recognized “as a human right” and a “strategic” resource “for the development of our country.”

He said that if the legislation is approved, the Mexican government will be the only entity authorized to issue water concessions.

Morales also said that the legislation will “strengthen procedures to combat water theft” and increase penalties for that crime. In addition, it will combat acaparamiento (water hoarding or stockpiling), establish regulations for rainwater harvesting and enable the creation of a national water reserve, the Conagua chief said.

If the legislation is approved by both houses of Congress, harsh penalties, including large fines and multi-year prison terms, could be imposed on anyone found guilty of improperly selling or transferring water concessions, or bribing officials to obtain concessions.

Farmers’ concerns 

Farmers have asserted that the enactment of the water legislation will have a negative impact of their capacity to produce food both for domestic consumption and export. They claim that their access to water via their existing permits will be reduced and that there is ambiguity about whether they will be able to bequeath and inherit water concessions.

“If it affects the countryside, it affects the city,” read a banner on display at the protest outside the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday.

Truckers end blockades after marathon negotiation results in an accord

“It’s a law that threatens production,” Jorge Robles, a farmer from Chihuahua, told reporters outside the lower house.

“The primary sector is the base of the economy … and in this country it appears they want to put an end to the economy,” he said.

Elena Burns, a former Conagua official and now a water activist, said that “the law says that if you don’t use water during two years, you lose the concession.”

“That is also a blow to the countryside,” she said, asserting that there is an “intention” to “take away water from the countryside to put it in reserves for discretional use.”

The newspaper El País reported that critics of the water legislation have described it as “the final nail in the coffin of the Mexican countryside.”

It also reported that the “the core of the conflict” between farmers and the government “lies in the fact that concessions for water use will no longer be able to be transferred between private parties, and must return to the state so that the National Water Commission can reassign them.”

“The justification for this prohibition is to eliminate the illegal market for concessions that has developed in the country. According to the farmers, this will make it impossible for them to bequeath or sell their land, since without the permit for water use, it has no value. This gives an advantage to large companies that will acquire their lands at laughable prices,” El País wrote.

The debate  

President Claudia Sheinbaum and Morales have asserted that famers will indeed be able to inherit and pass on water concessions. However, if a farm is sold, the purchaser will not be able to use the applicable water permit if they intend to change the use of the land from agricultural to residential or industrial.

To address farmers’ concerns, some modifications to the water legislation have already been made, while others were proposed. Many of the proposed modifications were debated by deputies on Thursday.

A package of 18 modifications that Morena and its allies claimed would address farmers concerns were approved on Thursday via the en lo particular vote. However, opposition deputies asserted that none of the modifications “solve [the problems] they say they solve,” the El Universal newspaper reported.

It remains to be seen whether farmers will be happy with the modified bill, which will now be considered by the Senate. Adán Augusto López Hernández, the Morena party’s leader in the Senate, said Thursday that the bill was on a fast track to Senate approval and would be passed without changes.

Deputies who voted in favor of the water legislation, namely representatives of Morena, the Labor Party and the Green Party, denied claims that it will have a negative impact on farmers. For their part, opposition lawmakers asserted that Morena is seeking to control water, limit its use on agricultural land and use the resource for political purposes.

“You want to steal the water and we want producers in the countryside to have more rights. This reform is dangerous,” said National Action Party Deputy Paulo Gonzalo Martínez.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party’s leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Rubén Moreira, asserted that the legislation could be unconstitutional due to a failure to consult with the nation’s Indigenous peoples and communities on the issue of water before it was drawn up. In that context, he warned that legal challenges against the legislation could reach the Supreme Court.

With reports from El Economista, El País, La Jornada, AP and DW 

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Under the terms of a 1944 bilateral water treaty, Mexico is required to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. every five years from six tributaries of the Rio Grande.

However, due to drought in recent years, Mexico has struggled to meet its obligations.

When the 2020-25 cycle concluded in late October, Mexico still owed the United States just over 865,000 acre-feet of water, a quantity it will need to transfer to the U.S. in the 2025-30 period in addition to its regular obligation.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Office of the Spokesperson of the U.S. Department of State said that senior Trump Administration officials from the State Department, the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission had met with Mexican counterparts to “discuss immediate and concrete steps Mexico would take to reduce shortfalls in water deliveries and ensure compliance with the 1944 Water Treaty.”

“The officials examined available water resources and the United States pressed for the maximum possible deliveries to Texas users,” the statement said without mentioning when and where the meeting with the Mexican government representatives took place.

“We have requested additional information and will reconvene to consider additional options.”

The Office of the Spokesperson of the U.S. Department of State said that “under the Trump Administration, Mexico has delivered more water in the last year than in the previous four years combined.”

“However, shortfalls in Mexico’s water deliveries have exacerbated water scarcity in Texas and contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses for farmers,” the office of Tammy Bruce, the current State Department spokesperson, said.

“President Trump and Secretary Rubio have been clear that Mexico must meet their obligations under the 1944 Water Treaty, including making up the approximately 865,000 acre-feet shortfall over the 2020-2025 five-year cycle and meeting delivery requirements under the 2025-2030 cycle.”

Bruce’s office said that Mexico must formulate “a plan to reliably meet water treaty requirements that takes into consideration the needs of Texas users.”

“We remain committed to working with Mexico to resolve this issue through diplomatic channels as we continue to evaluate all available options to ensure Mexico complies with its water delivery obligations,” the statement concluded.

State Dept: “shortfalls in Mexico’s water deliveries have exacerbated water scarcity in Texas and contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses for farmers.”
“This includes a plan to reliably meet water treaty requirements that takes into consideration the needs… pic.twitter.com/o94NJgcDtW

— Ryan Sprouse (@RSprouseNews) November 26, 2025

The Mexican government has not given its own account of the meeting Bruce’s office referred to.

In April, the Mexican and U.S. governments announced they had reached an agreement under which Mexico would immediately deliver water to the U.S.

At the time, Mexico had only delivered about 30% of the water it was required to send to the U.S. in the 2020-25 cycle. It ended the cycle having transferred just over 50% of its total obligation. A significant easing of drought conditions in Mexico thanks to a productive rainy season could allow Mexico to increase its water deliveries to the U.S. in the near term, although farmers in the country’s north remain opposed to transferring the precious resource across the international border.

Water is transferred from Mexico to the U.S. through a binational network of dams and reservoirs.

While the Mexican government committed in April to increasing its water deliveries to the U.S., it stressed it also has a responsibility to “ensure the supply [of water] for human consumption” for communities in Mexico that depend on the Rio Grande.

Before the bilateral agreement was reached in April, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico if it didn’t comply with its 1944 water treaty obligations.

Mexico reaches agreement to send more water to southern US

“Mexico OWES Texas 1.3 million acre-feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty, but Mexico is unfortunately violating their Treaty obligation,” he wrote on Truth Social on April 10.

“… My Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, is standing up for Texas Farmers, and we will keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty, and GIVES TEXAS THE WATER THEY ARE OWED!”

Water shortages in southern Texas 

In late October, Sonny Hinojosa, a water advocate for Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2, told The Texas Tribune that water Mexico delivered as part of the agreement reached in April provided some relief to farmers in the southern reaches of the Lone Star state.

However, farmers still only had about 50% of the water they need in a year, he said.

“Next spring, we may not have sufficient water to grow all our crops,” Hinojosa told the Tribune.

“Hurricane season came and went, we got no relief, so we’ll be facing a fourth year of water shortage.”

Dante Galeazzi, president and CEO of the Texas International Produce Association, told the Tribune that farmers in the Rio Grande Valley, as well as businesses that depend on agricultural activity, are suffering because of the water shortages.

“The impacts extend to other businesses like trucking companies, seed and chemical companies, and insurance companies, as well as workers who harvest the crops, Galeazzi said,” according to the Tribune.

New study warns of deepening water crisis in the Rio Grande basin https://t.co/1O7gcPeRTA via @TPRNews #txwater #drought #RGV

— The Texas Water Infrastructure Network (TXWIN) (@TX_WIN) November 25, 2025

“You have this big ecosystem of other adjacent businesses who also aren’t getting business because the farmers aren’t,” Galeazzi said.

The Tribune wrote that “the citrus industry faces the greatest risk from water shortages.”

“[Citrus] farmers worry they’re headed toward a similar collapse that shuttered the [Rio Grande] Valley’s sugar industry,” the publication wrote.

The Tribune reported on Nov. 7 that the delay in water deliveries from Mexico “continues to frustrate local farmers and ranchers who depend on water for their irrigation needs.”

In light of the situation, the two U.S. senators for Texas, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, filed legislation earlier this month that would limit the U.S. from sending Mexico future deliveries of water, and attempt to compel Mexico to make minimum annual deliveries to the United States during each five year treaty cycle.

Under the 1944 treaty, the United States has to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of water from the Colorado River to Mexico every year.

According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, “the United States typically has met its Colorado River delivery requirements to Mexico pursuant to the 1944 Treaty.”

With reports from La Jornada 

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The news was revealed during the presentation of the 2025 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report. During the event, Laura Verónica Imburguia, member of the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), said that Mexico’s situation is “alarming” due to its direct impact on water supply and ecosystem stability. 

“Mountains and glaciers are the world’s water towers, sustaining the lives of a billion people downstream,” she said, adding that the situation is concerning in all of Latin America, a region that generates more water per unit area than any other in the world. 

Imburguia said that many glaciers have disappeared or are in the process of disappearing, which is already affecting high-value agricultural production like coffee and cocoa, and hydroelectric power generation.

Which mountains have glaciers in Mexico?

These are the mountains in Mexico that have – or used to have – glaciers. 

Pico de Orizaba (Citlaltépetl), at 5,636 meters between the states of Veracruz and Puebla, is the mountain with the greatest number of glaciers in Mexico. However, it has lost nearly 80% of its glaciers: it used to have 204 glaciers, and now only 37 remain. 

Iztaccíhuatl, located at an elevation of 5,230 meters between the states of Puebla and Mexico, once had 12 permanent ice masses that covered approximately 120 hectares. Currently, it has only about 10% of its original glaciers and is at risk of losing the remaining ice within a few years.

Popocatépetl, located at just over 5,400 meters between the states of Morelos, Puebla and México state, has lost all its glaciers due to global warming and volcanic activity.

Currently, the lower limit of glacial ice in Mexico is around 5,100 meters. For reference, 65 years ago, it was between 4,600 and 4,700 meters. This means that, previously, a hiker could find glaciers at lower altitudes, whereas now they must climb much higher to reach them.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has said that the remaining glaciers could completely disappear within the next five years.  

How does the disappearance of glaciers affect Mexico? 

While Mexico’s glaciers are small compared to other regions, their disappearance could have serious consequences for the local environment.

Communities near these mountains depend on seasonal snowmelt to feed rivers, streams and springs. As these sources dwindle, pressure increases on other water reserves, such as reservoirs and aquifers, many of which are already overexploited. 

Furthermore, glaciers play a vital ecological role: they regulate the temperature and humidity of high-mountain ecosystems and stabilize watersheds. Their disappearance disrupts these dynamics and endangers endemic species that depend on these conditions.

Environmental experts at UNAM have said that halting global warming is the only effective strategy to prevent the complete disappearance of Mexican glaciers. This can be achieved by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, legally protecting natural areas in high mountains and boosting environmental education. 

With reports from Excelsior

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