Phase II – The Watershed/La Cuenca del Rio Program

AMOUNT: $12,000 US

PROJECT LEADERS: Michael Patrick, Carlos Villanueva Calderón

INSTITUTIONS: Texas A&M International University and Departamento de Desarrollo Regional de la Educación

This binational collaborative environmental and educational project began with Border PACT / CONAHEC funding and was further incorporated and built upon The Water-Shed Program, funded by the EPA. In the previous phase, only a few grades in the public schools of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo were selected and in the second year of funding, all grade levels have been included. The program established curriculum and environmental/educational materials for grades 3 – 8 to increase understanding of water quality, water conservation, and environmental issues in the mid-Rio Grande/Rio Bravo basin and watershed. The primary community benefit was a better informed public, particularly children and their parents, regarding the proper uses and conservation of water, and the protection of the environment. The project provided children and young adults the opportunity to learn first hand more about a valuable community resource, the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo river, and binational community efforts underway to protect it. A second, and equally important project benefit was the strengthening of a binational, interdisciplinary kindergarten through university relationship that served as a foundation for future collaborative efforts designed to address common problems facing the residents of the Laredo and Nuevo Laredo area.