BECC General Manager presents at Tijuana Innovadora

Along with green infrastructure experts Oscar Cortes, Vice President of the Tijuana Association of Civil Engineers, and Cory Jones of ASC Ingenieros, Maria Elena Giner had the opportunity to discuss an emerging initiative that BECC and the North American Development Bank have been promoting during the last three years.

The binational official emphasized that green infrastructure for stormwater management requires "a paradigm shift on roadway design to make the best use of water runoffs by harvesting and infiltrating rainwater through medians and sidewalks. " She said efforts should be made to provide currently paved city roads with more permeable surfaces, higher infiltration rates, and less runoff, to take advantage of some of the rainwater in a simple and cost-effective way. She also stated that in order to arrive at the implementation of tools associated to this urban technique, four major components should be ensured:     
     Technical - It involves incorporating the best water harvesting practices. She reported that the development of a water harvesting guide for Mexican communities is underway.          
     Legal - A municipal regulatory framework must exist that provides for public and private investments. She said three cities are advancing new municipal ordinances: Tijuana, Hermosillo, and Ciudad Juarez.
     Environmental - Green infrastructure projects should focus on environmental regeneration, she said, to improve the urban landscape and restore native vegetation.
     Social - She underscored that in order to implement these urban tools, communities must be empowered.

Oscar Cortes described a visionary project at the Puerto Mexico-El Chaparral border crossing, which includes elements of human dignity and enhancements to environmental and urban conditions along 2.5 kilometers of the Tijuana River bed, including wetlands and a large water pond. The project cost is close to one billion pesos (approximately US $50 million) and will be developed in a 2.5-hectare surface area.

In closing, Cory Jones presented an innovative study titled "One Water" which primarily reviews current water issues and green infrastructure actions that have been implemented or are projected for San Diego and Los Angeles. In his remarks he emphasized that the context of climate change and the vulnerability we experience force us to look at the water issue under a different perspective, focusing on a greater use of rainwater, desalination, water conservation and, in general, a new model where treated wastewater is combined with existing potable water reserves and used to infiltrate the local aquifers to support their recovery and ultimately to incorporate this water into local water supply systems.