Search Results (43)

Communities across the Southwestern United States (US) and Northern Mexico are making critical decisions regarding how they create long-term water resilience, including by reducing water demand and diversifying water supplies in the face of scarcity. There are several emerging frameworks encouraging collaborative governance approaches to water scarcity, such as Collaborative Water Governance and Adaptive Water Governance; however, examples of ongoing implementation of these frameworks by local governments in academic literature are less prevalent. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by sharing case studies and practitioner recommendations resulting from Growing Water Smart (GWS)—a training and assistance program for local communities to conduct collaborative water resilience action planning across jurisdictional borders, as well as between the historically separated disciplines of water resources management and land use planning. This paper presents and assesses the GWS curriculum as a model for local, cooperative responses to water scarcity, grounded in Collaborative Water Governance, Adaptive Governance, and related frameworks. This paper utilizes primary GWS program documents, firsthand participant perspectives, and direct practitioner experiences to present three case studies of GWS communities working across disciplinary and jurisdictional borders: a regionally collaborative facilitation process and intergovernmental agreement regarding water exports in the San Luis Valley of Colorado; a regional GWS workshop and emerging county-wide convening of jurisdictions within the Verde Watershed of central Arizona; and binational collaboration across the US-Mexico border through a workshop between the cities of Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, resulting in a deepened understanding of shared effluent flows. Finally, this paper posits that the GWS model initiates more collaborative and informed decision-making, builds capacity for localities through the support of third-party conveners and facilitators, and maximizes the limited financial and human resources available to local jurisdictions—resulting in a valuable and replicable process to advance water resilience across disciplinary and jurisdictional borders. Full article

A widely reproduced error in hydrogeologic maps originated from a provisional delineation drawn in the mid-1990s to depict the southern extent of the Mesilla Bolson aquifer along the western margin of the El Paso–Juárez metropolitan area. The delineation was created solely to satisfy a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contractual milestone during early binational groundwater inventory efforts and was never intended to represent a final hydrogeologic basin limit. Nevertheless, the outline persisted, became institutionalized in reports, models, management documents, and public imagery, and was ultimately labeled the “Mesilla/Conejos–Médanos Basin Transboundary Aquifer,” where it continues to be treated as a valid transboundary aquifer delineation. This paper documents the origin of the provisional delineation and proposes a revised delineation for the Mesilla/Conejos–Médanos Basin Transboundary Aquifer, based on internationally recognized definitions of transboundary aquifers and groundwater basins, including United Nations frameworks, and established scientific criteria. These criteria include basin-scale geologic and structural controls, hydrostratigraphic continuity, groundwater divides, and permeability contrasts at basin interfaces. Results indicate that the newly defined aquifer delineation falls within Mexico’s much larger administrative Acuífero Conejos–Médanos (0823), a unit that represents groundwater management jurisdiction in Mexico rather than solely a hydrogeologic basin. The proposed transboundary aquifer is defined on hydrogeological principles and does not coincide with either the administrative unit of Mexico or the historic provisional outline that has become widely used by multiple binational entities and by different experts in groundwater science. Full article

Background/Objectives: The implementation of COVID-19 vaccination in the United States has revealed substantial disparities driven by geography, socioeconomic conditions, and political ideology. This study examines the association between these factors and COVID-19 vaccination uptake across 360 counties in four U.S.–Mexico border states, characterized by distinct socio-political traits. Methods: Using county-level data, this study employed multivariable regression analysis and GIS mapping to assess the effects of income, education, employment, age, race, ethnicity, occupation, metropolitan status, border status, and political affiliation on Dose 1, Dose 2, and booster vaccination rates. Results: The analysis showed that Dose 1 vaccination rates were significantly higher in border counties and metropolitan areas. Democratic population share and per capita income were positively associated with vaccination uptake. Dose 2 vaccination rates exhibited patterns similar to those observed for Dose 1. Booster vaccination rates were positively associated with Democratic affiliation, the proportion of the population with at least a high school education, and the share of individuals aged 65 years and older. In contrast, unemployment rates were negatively associated with booster uptake. Racial and ethnic composition was also associated with vaccination outcomes: higher Black population shares were associated with lower Dose 1 vaccination rates, whereas higher Native American population shares were associated with higher vaccination rates. Booster uptake was higher with larger shares of the Asian population but slightly lower with larger shares of the White population. Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination uptake in U.S.–Mexico border counties was associated with a complex interaction of geographic, socioeconomic, demographic, and political factors. These findings underscore the importance of targeted, context-specific public health strategies to reduce vaccination disparities and improve booster coverage in border regions. Full article

This study reviews the influence of the U.S. Good Neighbor Environmental Board on water management along the U.S.–Mexico border. The GNEB has a unique mandate to inform the president and congress of needed infrastructure, investments, and policy actions supporting sustainable development of communities and natural resources in the border region. The study uses the GNEB’s own policy recommendations in its annual reports to consider its influence on border water management over more than 25 years. It concludes that while the GNEB’s recommendations have not had a direct impact on border water management policy, it has played an important role in describing border water management conditions; endorsing and legitimizing federal border environmental programs; spotlighting and advocating for best practices in border water management, including promoting policy integration among federal, state, and local water management programs; and advancing binational cooperation in developing and implementing border environment and water-related programs. Full article

Santa Ana winds are extreme meteorological events that strongly affect the U.S.–Mexico border region, often associated with droughts, high fire risk, and hydrological imbalance. Understanding the temporal behavior of key atmospheric variables during these events is crucial for integrated water resource management in semi-arid regions such as the Guadalupe Basin in northern Baja California. In this study, we explored the predictive capability of several hybrid deep learning architectures—Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Convolutional Neural Network combined with LSTM (CNN–LSTM), and Bidirectional LSTM with Attention (BiLSTM–Attention)—to model the temporal evolution of wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity, and atmospheric pressure using Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis data from 1980 to 2020. Model performance was evaluated using RMSE, MAE, and R² metrics and compared against persistence and climatology baselines. The BiLSTM–Attention model achieved the best overall performance, showing particularly high accuracy for temperature (R² = 0.95) and relative humidity (R² = 0.76), while maintaining angular errors below 35° for wind direction. The results demonstrate the potential of hybrid deep learning models to capture nonlinear temporal dependencies in meteorological time series and provide a methodological framework to enhance hydrometeorological understanding and water resource management in the Guadalupe Basin under Santa Ana wind conditions. Full article

Background: Residents of the US–Mexico border face cost-related barriers in accessing necessary medical care. Given the potential for individualized or broader tailoring of solutions to reflect community needs, we sought to identify risk factors for being uninsured and forgoing necessary medical care due to cost among a largely Hispanic adult population residing along the US–Mexico border. Methods: Surveys among adults in a major US–Mexico border area were used to investigate cost-related forgone medical care and lack of insurance. Binary Logit models were employed to model multiple binary outcomes informed by our theoretical frameworks. Results: Lower education, Hispanic ethnicity, being younger, lacking underlying illness and/or having obesity, forgoing medical care due to cost, and having lower income were associated with a higher likelihood of being uninsured; while being female, being younger, having underlying illness and/or having obesity (potential increased risk of severe illness due to COVID-19), lacking insurance, and having a lower income were risk factors for forgone medical care due to cost. Conclusions: This study adds novel insight into existing health inequities facing those residing along the US–Mexico border region, thereby holding timely public health implications. Full article

Immigrant and mixed-status families comprise a growing population in the United States, facing numerous barriers to accessing essential health and social services. This study examines service access barriers within the unique context of New Mexico’s borderlands, where constitutionally protected bilingualism and welcoming local policies contrast sharply with restrictive federal border enforcement. Using a qualitative approach, we conducted five focus groups with 36 immigrant caregivers in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, with the objective of understanding the factors that facilitate and hinder immigrant families’ access to health, behavioral health, and social services in this socio-politically complex border environment. Thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes: (1) structural and organizational limitations, including language barriers and transportation challenges exacerbated by border checkpoints; (2) the persistence of “chilling effects” on service use despite a Democratic presidency and post-pandemic policy shifts; and (3) community-defined recommendations for improving service access. The findings demonstrate how federal immigration enforcement undermines local inclusion efforts, creating enduring barriers to service access even in historically bilingual, immigrant-friendly regions. The participants proposed specific solutions, including mobile service units and integrated service centers, that account for both geographic and socio-political barriers unique to border regions. These community-generated recommendations offer practical strategies for improving immigrant service access in contexts where local welcome and federal enforcement create competing pressures on immigrant families. Full article

Environmental justice research in the United States (US) documents greater air pollution exposures for Hispanic/Latino vs. non-Hispanic White groups. EJ research has not focused on the intersection of race/ethnicity and older age nor short-term fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) exposures. We address these knowledge gaps by studying US metropolitan area census tracts within 100 km of the US–Mexico border, a region with serious air quality issues. We use US Census American Community Survey data to construct sociodemographic variables and Environmental Protection Agency Downscaler data to construct long-term and short-term measures of PM_2.5 exposure. Using multivariable generalized estimating equations, we test for differences in PM_2.5 exposures between census tracts with higher vs. lower proportions of older Hispanic/Latino residents and older non-Hispanic White residents. The results indicate that as the proportion of the Hispanic/Latino population ≥ 65 years of age increases, long-term and short-term PM_2.5 exposures significantly increase. In contrast, as the proportion of the non-Hispanic White population ≥ 65 years of age increases, changes in long-term and short-term PM_2.5 exposures are statistically non-significant. These findings illuminate how race/ethnicity and older age intersect in shaping PM_2.5 exposure disparities and may inform efforts to mitigate air pollution exposures for overburdened people along the US–Mexico border. Full article

Several studies find that low food security has negative effects on academic performance in higher education in the U.S., but the samples for these studies often have low percentages of Hispanic students. Consequently, it remains unclear if food security affects academic performance in predominantly Hispanic settings. Our study aims to analyze whether food security affects academic performance at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Using original survey data collected on 2020 students enrolled at a large research-intensive HSI and cumulative logit models, we assess whether food security influences concentration and graduation delays among students at an HSI in the U.S.–Mexico border region. Our findings strongly suggest that low food security reduces concentration and increases delays for graduation at the HSI. The results have important implications for HSI leaders who want to improve student success, and we offer recommendations for future programs and investments to build student food security at HSIs. Because food security is a strong social determinant of health, the study is closely related to the topic of addressing social determinants of health to improve Hispanic health outcomes. When universities take action to build food security among HSI students, they simultaneously make an investment to improve Hispanic health outcomes. Full article

Groundwater is vital to the well-being of over 20 million people in the nearly 2000-mile-long, arid U.S.–Mexico border region, supporting agricultural, industrial, domestic, and environmental needs. However, persistent droughts over the past two decades, coupled with increasing water demand and population growth, have significantly strained water resources, threatening the region’s water security. These challenges highlight the importance of comprehensive transboundary aquifer assessments, such as those conducted through the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP), a collaborative effort between the U.S. and Mexico to evaluate shared aquifers. The TAAP focuses on four aquifers: the Santa Cruz and the San Pedro in Arizona and Sonora and the Mesilla and the Hueco Bolson in Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua. With the need for additional aquifer studies in this arid region, it is important to determine and prioritize which aquifers would benefit most from transboundary assessment. This study aims to prioritize aquifers in the Arizona–Sonora region based on multiple criteria. The results from this study reveal regional disparities in the need for transboundary aquifer studies, with some aquifers highlighted due to their groundwater use for economic activities, while others stand out for their population density and the transboundary nature of the hydrogeologic units. By leveraging publicly available data, this research established a priority ranking for these aquifers to support decision-making processes in identifying and addressing the most critical aquifers for binational assessment, while providing a framework that can be replicated across other shared aquifers between the U.S. and Mexico and elsewhere. Full article

Background: Seeking mental health care is crucial for supporting effective reintegration among veterans. The U.S.–Mexico border presents a compelling and urgent case for study due to its proximity to economically marginalized and medically underserved areas, where the availability and accessibility of services are often limited. Objective: This study explored veterans’ mental health challenges and factors that hindered their adjustment to civilian life on the U.S.–Mexico border. Methods: A total of 36 veterans were recruited using purposive sampling from a mental health agency located in Southwestern Texas on the U.S.–Mexico border between November 2023 and May 2024 to complete an in-depth semi-structured interview and a brief survey. Results: Using thematic analysis, we found six themes associated with our study: (1) mental health struggles, (2) enduring military-influenced mindset, (3) adjustment to civilian life, (4) strained family relationships, (5) past victimization and discrimination, and (6) barriers to opportunities and mental health care. Conclusion: Understanding veterans’ mental health well-being and their prospects for integration into the civilian world is critical for identifying risk and protective factors that can inform the development of targeted health promotion initiatives, strengthen the implementation of equitable health care efforts, and support strategies for enhancing treatment access that address the unique needs of veterans in the border region. Policy and practice implications are discussed. Full article

Background: SARS-CoV-2 vaccine uptake variation remains a significant barrier to overcoming the spread of COVID-19. Individual beliefs/attitudes about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine vary significantly across generations due to personal experiences, access to accurate information, education levels, political beliefs, and trust in healthcare systems. Methods: This analysis used data from the baseline visit of Project 2VIDA!, a cohort of Americans of Mexican descent (AoDM) and African American individuals (n = 1052) in San Diego, CA, along the U.S.–Mexico border region. The survey assessed sociodemographics, healthcare access, socioeconomic factors, and trust in public health information/SARS-CoV-2 prevention. We conducted a logistic regression involving AoDM individuals to identify generational factors associated with completing the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine series. Results: The results of the logistic regression analysis revealed that Generation X (OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.33–0.82), Millennials (OR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.14–0.41), and Generation Z (OR = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.05–0.22) were less likely to complete the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine series when compared to Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. Conclusions: Participants with a history of SARS-CoV-2 testing and trust in the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine were significantly more likely to complete the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine series. Efforts to address vaccine series completion should be tailored to the specific concerns and motivations of different age groups. Full article

New Mexico is located along the U.S.–Mexico border, and as such, Spanish, English, and language mixing form an integral part of the New Mexican identity. New Mexico is often divided into a northern and a southern region with the north known for Spanish archaisms due to historic isolation, and the south associated with ties to a Mexican identity due to the location of the U.S.–Mexico border. The current study uses perceptual dialectology to capture the way in which speakers in the south of New Mexico perceive this north/south divide and communicate their identity. Overall, there is evidence of the north/south divide, but speakers in southern New Mexico focus much more on language use such as Spanglish, English, and Spanish than on their northern counterparts. Participants reference language mixing over language “purity” and borders over an explicit rural/urban divide. Like previous accounts, we see reference to the “correctness” of both English and Spanish, examples of specific terminology used in different parts of the state, and descriptions of accents throughout the state. Full article

Linguistic landscape (LL) studies in bilingual regions can reveal power dynamics between two languages, providing important information regarding their status and vitality. To analyze the relationship between Spanish and English in Ciudad Juárez, a city on the south side of the U.S.-Mexico border, we collected 1649 pictures of public signs in several sections of the city, whose “wellness levels” differ from each other. Pictures were coded for several factors, including language choice, business type, sign type, and the main and informative section, amongst others. Results show that while Spanish is the most frequently used language, English has a strong presence in the LL of Ciudad Juárez. The main factor affecting language choice is “business type”. Certain businesses within the “beauty” category tend to favor the use of English, while businesses within the “home” category favor the use of Spanish. An analysis of socio-economic status (SES) and language choice revealed a direct relationship between them: English is favored in high-income neighborhoods, while Spanish is favored used in low-income areas. The analysis of the main and informative sections on signs further confirmed the prestige assigned to English, which appears mostly in the main and most prominent sections of a sign. Our research shows that although Spanish vitality in Ciudad Juárez is strong, English is used in advertising because it is prestigious and increases the value of products and services, making them more appealing to shoppers. Full article

Hispanics are disproportionately affected by low rates of physical activity and high rates of chronic diseases. Hispanics generally and Mexican Americans specifically are underrepresented in research on physical activity and its impact on mental well-being. Some community-based interventions have been effective in increasing physical activity among Hispanics. This study examined data from a sample of low-income Hispanic participants in free community exercise classes to characterize the association between self-reported frequency of exercise class attendance, intensity of physical activity, and participant well-being. As part of two cross-sectional samples recruited from a stratified random sample of community exercise classes, 302 participants completed a questionnaire consisting of a modified version of the Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ) and the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF). Adjusted logistic regression analyses indicated that those who achieve mild, moderate, and strenuous self-reported physical activity have 130% higher odds (p = 0.0422) of positive mental well-being after adjustment for age, frequency of attendance, and self-reported health. This study provides evidence that the intensity of physical activity is associated with flourishing mental well-being among Hispanic adults. The association between physical activity and mental well-being is more pronounced when considering participants engaged in mild levels of physical activity. The study further provides insight into the planning and development of community-based physical activity programming tailored to low-income populations. Full article