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<br />Introduction <br /> <br />Tijuana from an Urban River Perspective <br /> <br />Tijuana is a city of paradox and contrast. The city is located in a semi-arid region <br />facing the Pacific Ocean. Months of sun and dryness are alleviated by rainfall in the <br />winter and early spring. The rainfall that enters the city's urban streams and upstream <br />watershed provides potable water for its residents. It also nourishes wetland ecosystems <br />that, in turn, support a wide variety of aquatic, terrestrial, and avian biodiversity. One <br />such thriving wetland ecosystem exists in the Alamar River Corridor. However, <br />population growth, urbanization, and industrial development threaten the city's urban <br />nvers. <br /> <br />Tijuana is one of the most rapidly growing cities in Latin America, with an annual <br />population growth rate of approximately 6 percent (Comisi6n Estatal del Agua 1999). By <br />2020, Tijuana's population will likely exceed 3.8 million (Peach and Williams 2000). <br />One of the reasons for the city's rapid urban growth is the expansion of Tijuana's <br />assembly and light manufacturing sector, the maquiladora industry. These mainly <br />foreign-owned industries use low-cost Mexican labor for assembling components into <br />final products (Carter 1999: 6). These plants dominate Tijuana's industrial and urban <br />landscape. By late 2000, Tijuana had 810 plants that employed some 198,776 workers <br />(INEGI 2000). <br /> <br />Urban residential, commercial, and industrial development has resulted in <br />channelization and destruction of the natural hydrology and wetland habitat in the <br />Tijuana River. When initially conceived and implemented in the early 1980s, the <br />channelization project was seen as a great urban development program, providing for <br />planned urbanization and controlled expansion of the city (see photograph 1, page 21). <br />However, in Tijuana, as in many urban areas around the world, it is becoming clear that <br />the long-term costs of such projects outweigh the short-term benefits. <br /> <br />Urban expansion deposits many contaminants into urban rivers. Eventually, many of <br />these pollutants can enter the groundwater basins beneath the rivers. If too many toxic <br />substances enter the groundwater basins, these aquifers will no longer serve as a source <br />of potable water for Tijuana's residents. Given that potable water is a scarce and <br />increasingly expensive resource in Tijuana, it would be unwise for the city to lose any of <br />its groundwater resources. <br /> <br />The Alamar River is located in the northeast section of the City of Tijuana. As shown <br />in Figure 1, the Alamar River is situated in the Tijuana River watershed with the Tijuana <br />River downstream and the Tecate River upstream. The Alamar River discharges into the <br />Tijuana River, flows through the city, eventually into the Tijuana River Estuary in the <br />United States, and then into the Pacific Ocean. The Alamar riverbed is a vital recharge <br />zone for a large aquifer that lies beneath the Alamar and Tijuana rivers. The Alamar <br />River is not channelized and, consequently, it provides a riparian corridor linking Mesa <br />de Otay to Tecate. <br /> <br />4 <br />