Rio Alamar
The Rio Alamar tributary makes up almost one third of the larger bi-national Tijuana River Watershed that spans approximately 1,750 square miles and impacts the lives of more than 1.4 million people.
[3] The Rio Alamar and the Tijuana River's Watershed is threatened by pollution and is the site of active rehabilitation and environmental justice efforts that are combined with urban planning in this region.
[4] The lack of proper planning and regulation that contaminated the flood plain has also induced binational collaborations due to the close proximity of the Arroyo to the United States.
[5] The pollution and the environmental injustices that threaten the Rio Alamar are a result of many long-standing and deep-rooted factors including: transnational and national policies, prioritizing profit-based land use processes, industrial pollution, underdeveloped urban infrastructure in Tijuana, exponential population growth and migration, and stark division created by the U.S.-Mexico border.The stream is formed by the confluence of Cottonwood Creek and Tecate Creek a short distance north of the Mexico–United States border.
The environment of the Arroyo Alamar and surrounding regions has been impacted by its transformation into a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)-inspired export processing zone.
[2] Illegally dumped waste, raw sewage, trash, and dirty runoff in addition to air contamination ensued in the context of Tijuana's inadequate urban infrastructure and absence of enforcing environmental policy.
[8] The hydrologic conditions and flooding behaviors of the Alamar stream were analyzed by the Mexican federal agency Commission Nacional De Agua (CONAGUA) for the first time in 1993.
[11] The maintenance of aquifer recharge, replenishment of groundwater, improvement of water quality, recreation, landscaping, a green corridor, and flood prevention and mitigation were urban-planning needs also included.
Supported on such events the project "Sustainable Architecture of Arroyo Alamar, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico'" (2005)[5] proposed a conceptual design of a linear park.
The SCERP linear park proposal sought to mitigate flooding risks, protect the stream's aquifer recharge processes, and reduce environmental impacts to the riparian and inhabited landscape.
[15] Uniting the ''"Binational Vision of the Basin of the Tijuana River" and the Border 2012 programs for the creation of conservation areas particularly in the Arroyo Alamar were established recommendations within the environmental category of the identified strategies.
[15] MPLAN was then charged to carry out an Environmental Impact Study for the nearly ratified eco-friendly channelization design.The Arroyo restoration project with sustainable river architecture was finally signed off by municipal subcommittees in 2009.
[12] Such sustainable urban development process in the Arroyo aimed to rehabilitate flood plains and preserve riparian-habitat functions while in tune with primary flood-mitigation and aquifer-replenishment.
[12] Concrete channelization alone risks habitat destruction, species endangerment, loss of surface and groundwater, increased erosion, magnified pollution concentrations, and aggravated local flood events.
Various neighborhoods located within the Arroyo Alamar united with representatives from Tijuana's Human Rights office in November 2005 to advocate for the health risks of inhabitants associated with environmental contamination of the stream.
[18] The citizen movement brought attention to the recorded cases of lupus, anencephaly, and gastrointestinal disorders in the Arroyo region that resulted from industrial contamination and a lack of basic services.
A sociopolitical perspective on the urban and environmental management in the Arroyo and beyond characterizes three elements: participation of citizens and organized society, coordination between three levels of government, and sectors that impact the project.
[16] The implementation of free-trade agreements within NAFTA created a new strained the intricate dynamics of environmental governance that influence the Arroyo, exerted additional pressure on the resources of the nation-state, and exacerbated socio-economic disparities.
[19] Environmental capacity building for local communities requires taking into consideration participation barriers and ensuring outreach strategies consult even those lacking cultural, social, and political capital.
Actively promoting authentic and inclusive dialogue ensures the material and ideological foundations of a project, such as direction, scope, or operations, can be traced back to the influence of community input.
[21] The opinions and proposals put forth by various stakeholders throughout the process carried out during the Arroyo Alamar Technical Board's (MTAA) work established a strong foundation of citizen participation in defining the area for environmental protection and restoration.
[5] This is significant for creating short and long term environmental justice solutions to protect community health, enhance quality of life, upgrade urban infrastructure, and mitigate impacts from industrial processes in the Arroyo.
Civil society organizations, members from the H.XVIII Tijuana City Council, the Environmental Protection Department, and IMPLAN were involved to coordinate and facilitate the management of various aspects related to the declaration.
