2019 - The Water We Share

DAY 1. SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY, AZTEC STUDENT UNION

9:00 AM
Montezuma Hall

• Welcome: President Adela de la Torre and Rector Valdez Delgadillo; Amb. Carlos González Gutiérrez, Consul General of Mexico in San Diego
• Master of Ceremonies: Paola Avila, Vice President International Business Affairs, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Opening Remarks: Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer, City of San Diego
• Special Presentation: Jim Madaffer, Board Chair, San Diego County Water Authority
• Keynote Address: E. Joaquin Esquivel, Chair, California State Water Resources Board
• Comment: Pete Silva, President, Silva-Silva International
• Comment: Ing. Hernando Durán, Tijuana Verde & Tijuana Innovadora
• Rapporteur: D. Rick Van Schoik, North American Research Partnership

10:15 AM
Montezuma Hall

Session 1. Water Reuse

A secure and reliable water supply is critical for both the San Diego region and the coastal zone of Baja California. One way to improve water security is through increasing water reuse in the region. Technological solutions for wastewater treatment that include energy and nutrient recovery are available and can help increase the water supply for human use. These approaches both provide feasible options transborder collaboration. Together we can provide greater efficiency in managing this critical resource.

• Moderator: Kari Sant, School of Public Health, SDSU
• Speaker: David Gibson, Executive Officer, San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, The Past and Future of Water Recycling in San Diego
• Speaker: Leopoldo Mendoza Espinoza, Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanológicas, UABC, Reuse of Wastewater in Baja California: Current Practices and Growing Opportunities
• Comment: Natalie Mladenov, Engineering, SDSU
• Rapporteur: Christy Dykstra, Engineering, SDSU
  

11:45 am
Montezuma Hall

Session 2. Water and Health

Access to a safe water supply, adequate sanitation services, and better hygiene practices (also known as WASH for “water, sanitation, and hygiene”) are essential for human health. Reuse of wastewater is important, but contamination is a real issue. New treatment systems are available for sewage reclamation and reuse for drinking water and other purposes in the border region. However, there is a need for additional research into the potential health risks of water reuse, especially for potable water. The water-health relationship within both countries will have transborder impacts.

• Moderator: Stanley Maloy, Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation, SDSU
• Speaker: Rick Gersberg, School of Pubic Heath at SDSU and City of San Diego Independent Advisory Panel for Pure Water, "Health Implications of the Direct or Indirect Potable Reuse of Sewage, and San Diego's Pure Water Project"
• Speaker: Concepción Carreón-Diazconti, Instituto de Ingenería, UABC, “Water Reuse and Health in Baja California”
• Comment: Matt Verbyla, Engineering, SDSU
• Rapporteur: Alberto Pombo, Urban and Environmental Studies, COLEF

1:15 pm
Montezuma Hall

Lunch and Poster Displays

2:30 pm
Montezuma Hall (3A)
Threatre (3B)

Session 3A. Water Management and Governance across Borders: The Tijuana River Watershed

Political and administrative boundaries in the transborder region often separate components of natural systems but watersheds are most effectively managed as integrated units. Unified management can maximize water supply and maintain healthy ecosystems. In order for cross-border management of water and watersheds to be sustainable and equitable, there is a need to understand the institutional contexts of both nations. This session explores progress toward basin-wide management of the binational Tijuana River Watershed to improve quality of life for both sides of the border.

• Moderator: Denise Moreno Ducheny, Senior Policy Advisor, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, UCSD
• Speaker: Trent Biggs and Richard Wright, both Geography, SDSU, History of Collaborative Research and Data Integration for the Binational Tijuana River Watershed
• Speaker: Carlos de la Parra, Urban and Environmental Studies, COLEF, Binational Management of the Tijuana River Watershed: Minute 320 and Beyond
• Comment: Celeste Cantú, Vice-Chair, Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego
• Comment: Elsa Saxod, Board Member, San Diego County Water Authority
• Rapporteur: Paul Ganster, Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias, SDSU

Session 3B (Theater). Stakeholder Perspectives on Water Challenges in the Transborder Region

This panel discussion will explore transborder water issues from the perspectives of regional stakeholders including the private sector, environmental organizations, agriculture, local and state government, and others. The panelists will be asked to share their insights regarding challenges to effective water management in the transborder region.

Facilitator: Jerry Sanders, CEO / President San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce

Panelists:

• Dan Denham, Assistant General Manager, SD County Water Authority
• Peter MacLaggan, Senior Vice President of California Project Development, Poseidon Water
• Hannah Gbeh, Executive Director, San Diego County Farm Bureau
• Laura Silvan, Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental
• Matt O’Malley, Executive Director, San Diego Coastkeeper
• Faye Crevoshay, Communications & Policy Director, WILDCOAST
• Rapporteur: Alan Sweedler, Physics and Center for Energy Studies, SDSU

4:00 pm
Montezuma Hall

Session 4. Rapporteur Summaries and Conclusions for Day 1

4:30 pm
Montezuma Hall

Closing Remarks by U.S. Representative Juan Vargas

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Montezuma Hall

Reception

DAY 2. UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE BAJA CALIFORNIA, Tijuana, Sala de Lecturas

9:00 am

Welcome:

• Rector Valdez Delgadillo
• President Adela de la Torre
• Mtra. Edith Montiel Ayala, Vicerrectora de la UABC, Campus Tijuana
• Dr. Natanael Ramíres Angulo, Director de la FeyRI, Cónsul Sue Saarnio, Consulado General de Estados Unidos en Tijuana
• Dra. Cristina Alfaro, Vicepresidneta Asociada de Asuntos Globales SDSU
• Sue Saarnio, Consul General of the United States in Tijuana
• Arq. Jesús Figeroa Sánchez, Coordinador de Proyectos de Gestión Ambiental de la UABC

Keynote: Judith Domínguez Serrano, El Colegio de México, General Water Law: Reforms to Guarantee the Human Right to Water in Mexico / Ley General de Aguas: reformas para garantizar el derecho humano al agua en México

• Moderator: Natanael Ramírez Angulo, FEyRI, UABC
• Comment: Efrain Nieblas, UABC
• Rapporteur: Cristian Medina Vázquez, FEyRI, UABC

10:00 am

Session 5. Climate Change, Water Security, and Risks

The goal of this session is to provide an overview of how climate change has and will continue to affect the border region. Climate models indicate that the California-Baja California transborder area will experience decreased precipitation, more intense storm events, warming temperatures, and rising sea levels. Because of this, there may be greater risks of floods and landslides as well as wildfires. Decreased water production in the Colorado Basin and in the Sierra Nevada mountains will reduce water available for the border region, which currently obtains 90% of its water from imports. While vulnerability to these changes and hazards varies by community, climate change is affecting the entire transborder region.

• Moderator: Gabriela Muñoz, Urban and Environmental Studies, COLEF
• Speaker: Tereza Cavazos, Physical Oceanography, CICESE, Water and Climate Change along the Baja California-California Border
• Speaker: Roberto Sánchez, Urban and Environmental Studies, COLEF, Climate Change, Water, and Vulnerability of Human Populations in the Binational Region
• Comment: Eric Frost, Eric Frost, Homeland Security, SDSU
• Rapporteur: Itzume Ruiz Araujo, FEyRI, UABC

11:30 am

Session 6. Water and Food

Agriculture is the largest consumer of water in the border region even as water allocations have been transferred from irrigation to urban and industrial uses. Established crop mixes are being replaced with more water efficient varieties, affecting the regional food supply, and some farm land may be fallowed for lack of water. Long-term drought has reduced water availability for the border region through a shrinking surface water supply from the Colorado River system and from depleted aquifers. The San Quintín and Guadalupe valleys in Baja California, the wine and horticultural districts of San Diego County, and commercial agriculture in the Mexicali-Imperial valleys all face challenges of reduced water for food production.

• Moderator: Moderator: Belem D. Avendaño Ruiz, FEyRI, UABC
• Speaker: Fernando de Sales, Geography, SDSU, Climate Change and Wine Production in the Temecula Region
• Speaker: Isaac Azuz Adeath (CETYS), “The San Quintín Agricultural Area”
• Comment: Manuel Valladolid Seamanduras, Agricultural Producer and Former Secretary of Agricultural Development of Baja California.
• Rapporteur: Luis Patricio Cancino Opazo, FEyRI, UABC

1:00 pm

Lunch and Poster Displays

2:30 pm

Session 7. Water and Equity

Water is intimately related to culture, policy, and social justice. Allocation of water resources and equity are ongoing concerns in the border region. Issues related to environmental justice include uneven water access and disproportionate burdens associated with water-related hazards.

• Moderator: Efraín Nieblas, UABC
• Speaker: Kimberly Collins, Public Administration, CSU San Bernardino, Water Institutions and Social Equity along the California-Baja California Border Region
• Speaker: Jorge Ramírez Hernández, Instituto de Ingenería, UABC, Contrastes en el uso y la disponibilidad de agua en el valle y la zona costa: desafíos para el desarrollo / Contrasts in Valley and Coastal Water Use and Availability: Challenges for Development
• Comment: Marco Antonio Samaniego, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, UABC
• Comment: Doug Liden, San Diego Border Office, USEPA
• Rapporteur: Jocelyn Citlali González Troncoso, UABC

4:00 – 5:00 pm

Session 8: Rapporteur Summaries of Panels for Day 2; Conference Recommendations