Regional Planning, bilateral collaboration, Ecology, Human Health, Water Quality, Community mobilization
This topic is of international importance because the two principal groups that are involved and contributing to the project are the Mexican residents of Los Laureles Canyon, and the American San Diegans. These two groups share the responsibility of resolving the current problem because it affects both nations equally. Tijuana is affected principally due to the direct effects of waste and polluted sediments in the area, while San Diego is affected indirectly by the pollution of the beaches at the end of the Tijuana River. In other words, the issue transcends borders and is a responsibility of great importance that both parties need to mend. By completing this study, the long term goal is to replicate the solutions found in this conflict and applying them in other places of Latin America, such as Bogotá Colombia which suffers a similar erosion and river-pollution problem.
Booth, D.B. and J. Leavitt. 1999. Field Evaluation of Permeable Pavement Systems for Improved Stormwater Management. American Planning Association Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 314-325.
California Department of Parks and Recreation/ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2009. Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve Five Year Management Plan (2009 – 2014) DRAFT #5.
Dye, C. 2008. Health and Urban Living. Science 319: 766-769.
EPA. 2003. Border 2012: U.S.-Mexico Environmental Program. Washington, DC. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Grant, Gary, L. Engleback, and B. Nicholson. 2003. Green Roofs: Their Existing Status and Potential for Conserving Biodiversity in Urban Areas, Report Number 498. English Nature Research Reports.
IMTA (Instituto Mexicano de Tecnologia del Agua). 2004. Diagnostico Integral de la Subcuenca Hidrologica Los Laureles, Tijuana, B.C. [in Spanish] Resumen Ejecutivo. November 2004. 14 pp. Available: http://icfdn.org/initiatives/llc/RESUMENEJECUTIVOLaureles.pdf [Accessed 13 October 2009]
http://map.telesis.org/
http://www.regionalworkbench.org/databank/project_all.php?pid=25
http://www.icfdn.org/initiatives/llc/llc.htm
This Proposal tackles the challenge of creating guidelines for dealing with issues such as the following and replicating those solutions in other locations. The Laureles Canyon Erosion Control Project is an erosion control and storm water management feasibility project in Los Laureles Canyon, Tijuana, Mexico. This project attempts to implement a full-scale community based slope stabilization and erosion control mobilization. This proposal will evaluate how effectively the particular project will fix the problem in the area and develop a guideline to implement projects similar to this one in other areas of Latin America. In order to compile the guideline, several interviews will be conducted with local leaders, personal observations at several project locations, and an examination of the scholarly literature that discusses this situation and others similar to the one present. The study will contribute to more efficient solutions to other projects in Latin America that resemble the one being studied. The results will be shared with public officials in Bogota, Colombia to further the cause of diminishing the pollution in the Bogotá River.
This SRP analyzes the application of tools such as pervious pavers in erosion control and storm water management projects, as well as highlights the critical role community-mobilization can play in facilitating the completion of these sorts of projects in developing countries. The Laureles Canyon Erosion Control Project is an erosion control and storm water management feasibility project in Tijuana, Mexico. This project attempts to implement a full-scale community-based slope stabilization and erosion control mobilization. This SRP evaluates how effectively the particular project utilizes pervious pavers and recruitment to fix the problem in the area. In order to complete the study, several interviews were conducted with local leaders, personal observations at several project locations, and an examination of the scholarly literature that discusses this situation and others similar to the one present. The main findings include several factors that determine the degree of participation in the paver-building workshops such as event scheduling, frequency of workshops, physical intensity, and personal priorities/ incentive. The SRP also includes some recommendations for refining and improving future workshops. The results will be shared with public officials in Bogota, Colombia to further the cause of diminishing the pollution in the Bogotá River.
The principal focus of this study is the utilization of pervious pavers as a tool for reducing storm water runoff flow rate and volume, as well as for filtering pollutants. More precisely, the question is how can efforts such as those of the Laureles Canyon Erosion Control Project effectively employ the pervious pavers to achieve a considerable reduction in erosion and contamination in the Tijuana River Estuary in a way that integrates the community members and volunteers into these types of projects. Pervious pavers are a paving alternative, where water is able to filter through the surface to the underlying soils. With traditional paving, water would normally hit the surface and then flow down to the nearest drainage channel, and become storm water runoff. The findings that resulted from this study can enlighten planners and decision-makers about other options for erosion control and storm water management such as the practice of employing community-mobilization efforts for projects such as the pervious-pervious building workshops. For example, in this project, we have found factors in maximizing and measuring the effectiveness and degree of participation in pavers-making workshops. We discovered some of the issues that can slow projects down like the lack of scheduling or timetables for setting workshops. Also, it is important to acknowledge the need for balance in deciding the frequency in which to hold workshops. For example, big time gaps between workshops lead to diminution of enthusiasm or willingness, while small gaps between workshops might become a burden for the participants.
In order to understand how this is happening one must get a clear understanding of how it began in the first place. At this point in the research it is unclear, but one possible reason for the commencement of the environmental and urban issue is the tremendous rate at which Tijuana has grown over the recent decades. Archival records will be investigated to investigate this claim. The economic constraints, lack of political foresight, and improper planning have marginalized areas of Tijuana such as Los Laureles Canyon. Interviews with members of the public sector in Tijuana will contribute to provide a framework for the reasons behind the current situation. Evidently, the lack of proper land-use planning is also a possible reason for the development of this neighborhood because the area should have never been developed due to its environmental sensitivity and importance to the region. Working with Professor Oscar Romo, an expert in the topic, will advance my the research to understand precisely what is currently being done to resolve the issues in Los Laureles Canyon. Interviews with residents of the area will be conducted as well to get a critical sense of the opposing sides of the dilemma in Los Laureles Canyon. Also, to put the case of Los Laureles Canyon into an international perspective, several other case-studies in Latin America will be cited to compare and contrasts successes and failures in their attempts to solve their environmental problems.
The Geographical focus is the Tijuana Watershed in the Tijuana/San Diego region.
Three distinct parts of the San Diego/ Tijuana region will be examined: the growing Laureles Canyon neighborhood in Tijuana, The Tijuana River, and the intoxicated Tijuana River estuary on the American side.
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