(Photo by Garrison Murphy/Cronkite News) NOGALES — Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, share something more meaningful than their city name.
“We know that Arizona wouldn’t be Arizona without water, probably our most precious resource,” said Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan.
“People don’t realize that things are grown in other countries.” Border towns commonly share water resources.
Politicians from both sides of the border said they acknowledge that most of the issues related to water have originated on the Mexican side of the river.
We are working on that.” Pompa said that local, state, and federal governments in Mexico are cooperating to create a first of its kind solar water treatment plant in Sonora.
Pompa also said that federal governments on both sides are to blame for most of the issues pertaining to water in that “Washington and Mexico City don’t understand the border because they aren’t on the border.” Echoing Pompa, Sklar also said she hopes federal politicians minimize interference with water around the border.
He said factories in Sonora dump toxic waste into shared waterways.
“What we want to see is that (the Sonoran government is) more on top of things and that the revelations don’t just come from this side,” Doyle said.
Under the NAFTA agreement, their waste is to be treated by American waste water plants.
“The goal is to educate them and say don’t do it this way, and if you have waste that you need to dispose of, you need to know who to call,” Anaya said.