2011 HYDROGEOLOGY FIELD TRIPS NEAR THE US/MEXICO BORDER CREATE SECURITY CONCERNS, BUT FINISH WITH STUDENT EXCITEMENT AND BONDING

As part of a US Department of Education FIPSE Grant to augment and develop hydrology and hydrogeology curriculum at California State University, Los Angeles, a course on the “US/Mexico Border Environment and Water” was taught during the fall quarter, 2011. As its main theme, the course covered transboundary aquifers along the US/Mexico border; their geology, development, water use, management, environmental problems, disparate binational laws and regulations, and sustainability. As part of the course, two 5 day field trips were led to groundwater basins along the US/Mexico border. Initially, campus administrators and relatives of students expressed concerns about these field trips due to security concerns and accelerating violence and trafficking along the border. Concessions were required, such as assurances that crossings would not be made at the border (a general campus mandate at the time). A very diverse group of mostly new graduate students enrolled in the course, including fairly equally distributed ethnicities of White, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Latino from several disciplines including geology, hydrology, and engineering. Despite initial concerns about security, the field trips proceeded without incident to most of the shared groundwater basins between western New Mexico and Imperial Valley, California. A combination of spectacular and disparate mountain and valley floor geology, relevant hydrogeologic topics, rich historical and cultural aspects of regions, and observations and discussions of ecological provinces provided excitement and interest among the participating students. The course ended with a new group of students forming personal and collegial relationships, deeper connections to the topic of hydrogeology, and a thorough knowledge and appreciation of the many splendors and difficulties confronting the US/Mexico border.