Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas – This afternoon, representatives of the Mexican National Water Commission (CONAGUA), the Government of the State of Tamaulipas, the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo and its water utility, Comisión Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado (COMAPA), along with representatives of international organizations led by the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) and the North American Development Bank (NADBank), signed a Commitment Agreement to take steps to expedite funding for a comprehensive wastewater collection and treatment project in the city of Nuevo Laredo. The project is intended to eliminate untreated wastewater discharges into the Rio Grande and preserve the primary source of drinking water for future generations in both Nuevo Laredo and its sister city, Laredo, Texas, as well as for communities downstream in both countries.
Present at the signing of the agreement were Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal Anaya; Nuevo Laredo Mayor Carmen Lilia Canturosas Villarreal; Bob Dahlke, Acting Consul General at the Consulate of Nuevo Laredo and representing the U.S. Embassy in Mexico; Laredo Mayor Víctor Treviño; NADBank Chief Environmental Officer Salvador López Córdova; José Gutiérrez Ramírez, Manager of Engineering and Binational Water Affairs for CONAGUA; and IBWC Commissioner María Elena Giner.
The project includes the rehabilitation of the International Wastewater Treatment Plant (PITAR), which will be expanded from 600 to 1,360 liters per second (lps) or from 13.7 million to 31 million gallons per day (mgd), in compliance with Mexican standard NOM-001-SEMARNAT-2021, as well as the replacement of old and deteriorated sewer lines and conveyance systems and the expansion of the wastewater collections system to unserved areas.
NADBank Chief Environmental Officer Salvador López Córdova stated that “these important infrastructure works will not only help improve the quality of the water discharged into the Rio Grande, thus protecting this important binational water supply, they will also protect public health, the environment and the quality of life of residents on both sides of the border.”
It is worth noting that the project will receive a grant equivalent to 27% of the total investment through the NADBank Border Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF), which is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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NADBank is a financial institution established and capitalized in equal parts by the United States and Mexico for the purpose of financing environmental infrastructure projects along their common border. As a pioneer institution in its field, the Bank is working to develop environmentally and financially sustainable projects with broad community support in a framework of close cooperation and coordination between Mexico and the United States.