HR: 14:45h
AN: H53G-04    [Abstracts]
TI: The San Pedro Basin: A Case Study of US and Mexican Strategies to Connect Science to Societal Needs
AU: * Scott, R L
EM: rscott@tucson.ars.ag.gov
AF: USDA Agricultural Research Service, 2000 E Allen Rd, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States
AU: Goodrich, D C
EM: dgoodrich@tucson.ars.ag.gov
AF: USDA Agricultural Research Service, 2000 E Allen Rd, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States
AU: Browning-Aiken, A
EM: browning@email.arizona.edu
AF: SAHRA, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States
AU: Richter, H
EM: hrichter@tnc.org
AF: The Nature Conservancy, Upper San Pedro Program, P.O. Box 16 Bisbee, AZ 85603, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States
AU: Varady, R
EM: rvarady@email.arizona.edu
AF: SAHRA, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States
AU: Shuttleworth, W J
EM: shuttle@hwr.arizona.edu
AF: SAHRA, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States
AB: The San Pedro River originates in northern Sonora near the town of Cananea and spans the U.S. - Mexico border into southeastern Arizona. The San Pedro Basin and perennial portions of its river support one of the most ecological diverse regions in the world. The regional groundwater aquifer which largely supports perennial flow and the associated riparian ecosystem is the primary water source for a number of communities, and for the Cananea copper mine in Sonora, which produces roughly two to three percent of the world's copper, and Ft. Huachuca, a major military installation in Arizona and the largest employer of southern Arizona. This presentation will discuss strategies and efforts over the past decade on both sides of the border to link hydrological, ecological and social sciences to aid elected officials and decision-makers in managing the basin, its growing population, and the water it so vitally depends upon. The disparate legal, cultural, economic and scientific environments, as well as the unequal degrees of decentralization and regional autonomy on the two sides of the border have resulted in distinct concerns and approaches to water resource management and varying rates of success. In the Sonoran portion of the basin water quality is the primary concern and in Arizona, water quantity is the major concern. The paper will report on sustained binational efforts and constraints encountered by researchers at the University of Arizona's NSF-funded SAHRA project and several NOAA-supported efforts in the basin region.
DE: 1834 Human impacts
DE: 1836 Hydrological cycles and budgets (1218, 1655)
DE: 1876 Water budgets
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly