New article by Udall Center staff and affiliates: ‘Megadrought’ along border strains US-Mexico water relations

A new article coauthored by Robert Varady (Research Professor, Udall Center), Andrea Gerlak (Interim Director and Professor, Udall Center/School of Geography, Development and Environment), and Stephen Mumme (Professor of Political Science, Colorado State University) titled ‘Megadrought’ along border strains US-Mexico water relations featured as the lead article in the July 1^st issue of The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to sharing expert knowledge for the public good.

In the article, which draws on a recent essay by a University of Arizona research team (Wilder et al. 2020; available by request), the authors explain how the United States and Mexico have negotiated bilateral management since 1944 to the present, as record heat and low rainfall are drying up water sources shared by the American Southwest and northern Mexico. You can read the full article, which has been downloaded by more than 27,000 readers and picked up by two dozen national and international newspapers and news sites. The article is now the second-most read UArizona-authored piece (of 110) in The Conversation since 2013.