The Texas-Mexico border is a region marked by drought, desert conditions, and an increasing population. Many residents and municipalities on both sides of the border rely on groundwater to meet their water demand. However, aquifers lying beneath the border are transboundary and extend from one sovereign nation into another. As one side extracts water from a transboundary aquifer, the other side can consequently lose water. A groundwater treaty may be one solution, but the difficulties inherent in establishing such a treaty are numerous. The experiences of Israel and the Palestinians, as they seek to resolve their own tranboundary groundwater conflicts, shed light on the Texas-Mexico groundwater situation. In both instances, population is steadily rising in dry regions that are not naturally equipped to handle large populations, groundwater laws and policies are different on each side of the border, and the aquifers are in danger of being drained as a result of overuse and insufficient recharge.
This thesis analyzes the difficulties inherent in establishing a groundwater policy between the United States and Mexico, suggests alternative methods of transboundary groundwater management, and discusses groundwater policymaking between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as a case study.
