Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

Annotated Bibliography:

Arroyo Flooding at UTEP

Paulina Gutierrez-Ramirez

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

October 22, 2018

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

Research Questions

1. What is an arroyo? What is a flooding?

2. Does UTEP have an arroyo?

3. Does UTEP professor research the topic?

4. Have there been arroyo flooding at UTEP in the past?

5. What is the university doing to solve the problematic of floods?

6. Why did UTEP take away arroyos in the first place, and why did they bring them back?
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 3

Annotated Bibliography

Collins, T. W. (2010). Marginalization, facilitation, and the production of unequal risk: The 2006

Paso del Norte floods. Antipode, 42(2), 258-288. Retrieved from

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2009.00755.x

Collins (2010) claimed and studied the 2006 El Paso del Norte Floods, setting a focus on

marginalization and its relation to facilitation in an urban political ecology (p. 258). He

argues the process which enables geographical groups of people to minimize negative

environmental impact and more positive expanse to a socioenvironmental consequence,

being in this case, floods. As he focusses on the facilitation of this certain type of risk,

through the case study of the floods involving Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) and El Paso (USA),

he reveals certain socioeconomically spaces share patterns for this type of natural disasters

(p. 261). In addition, he presents a frame, clarifying the unequal risks some of the

geographical groups suffer, as marginalization and consequences such as floods, exist and

affect externalities and communities. This is important because it implies the essential focus

on the impact of existing belittled communities making the audience pathos with the

importance floods represent and how attention must be focused on solving this type of

uncontrolled climate consequences. In this case, the river in which the community of UTEP

and the city are located, it is addressed specifically to acknowledge the research that needs

to be done in these areas.

Collins, T. W., Grineski, S. E., & Aguilar, María de Lourdes Romo. (2009). Vulnerability to

environmental hazards in the Ciudad Juárez (Mexico)–El Paso (USA) Metropolis: A

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model for spatial risk assessment in transnational context. Applied Geography, 29(3).

Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622808000751

Collins, along with Grineski and Aguilar (2009), researched and presented a case-study and

method that focuses on environmental danger in a geographical scope (p. 3). Specifically,

they focused on translational contexts and the risks that come along with the existence of

them. The method however, is based on biophysical and social indicators between the

border of Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) and El Paso (USA), in order to understand the possible

risks, both countries face regarding geographical matters. All-three authors analytically

described how there is an imbalance between both countries creating a danger frame which

gives as a result, individuals searching for a balance to their needs in order to have

comparability between other individuals’ life style, as well as their own. That being the

case, UTEP is in a border between two countries and immigration is a big issue regarding

both cities and that can justify this article can justify the reason of why the arroyo was

destructed for a period but then it would be rebuilt again.

Corchado, A. (2006). El Paso left with flood questions, some little else. Dallas Morning News,

the (TX). Retrieved

from http://0search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=2W62

W61740511746&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Corchado (2006) claimed and informed the debate of rebuilding the arroyos as a

solution to avoid floods (p. 1). He exposes the opinion of John Walton, a hydrologist at The

University of Texas at El Paso, and city officials who all agreed how arroyos are a problem

they should study and address quickly. Also, he claims and argues in what conditions

arroyo’s flooding have left communities and how these parts of the city can only keep the
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 5

faith, hoping arroyo flooding's do not keep destructing infrastructure, such as houses,

leaving individuals with nothing. To prove his argument of the consequence’s civilians are

facing, Corchado cites community witnesses who have suffered these climate change

destructions (p. 2). This article is of sum importance as it helps acknowledge through

primary sources (interviews), the consequences these individuals are facing because of

floods.

Del Ninno, C. (Ed.). (2001). The 1998 floods in Bangladesh: disaster impacts, household coping

strategies, and response (Vol. 122). Intl Food Policy Res Inst. Retrieved from

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=X0f6kOd4IzsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=

bangladesh+floods+in+1974&ots=jiaeEtJ4L-&sig=VC-o-

a0D1rGxYtJ6iSpqor3UW4A#v=onepage&q=bangladesh%20floods%20in%201974&f=f

alse

Del Ninno (2001) introduced a case-study of floods in developed and developing

countries, focusing on health impacts of the population and the co-relation of particular

type of floods (p. 36). He acknowledges the classification of floods, according to the

cause as it can be high rainfall, tidal extremes, and structural failure, and how these can

be related to health issues such as mortality, injuries, diseases, and mental disorders. The

author will support their arguments on the aforementioned health issues through data

across the world, and an impacting example provided is the floods in Bangladesh in 1998

where the country was covered by more than two-thirds, threatening the health of many

individuals adjacent to food shortage, the loss of purchasing power to basic necessities

and potential spread of water-borne disease. Additionally, the book provides tables,

outlining household coping strategies, and the response to how the country recovered (p.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 6

87). Therefore, the source supports how the situation was handled, providing examples of

possible effective solutions to this type of disasters to other countries and communities

around the world facing these.

Flooding. (2018). In The hutchinson unabridged encyclopedia with atlas and weather guide.

Retrieved from https://0-search-credoreference-

com.lib.utep.edu/content/entry/heliconhe/flooding/0

Through UTEP’s research library system, the data base found the definition of floods in all

contexts. Flooding is defined by The Hutchinson Encyclopedia in all types of bodies of

water explaining the reasons of how and why this type of climate change occur (p. 76).

Additionally, they describe in which type of architecture are floods less likely to occur. The

source is useful for understanding in what context are floods included and how are related to

the problematic of arroyo floods at UTEP. Also, this electronic encyclopedia acknowledges

in which places floods are less likely to occur providing a helpful prevention to these types

of inundations when examining possible solutions of UTEPs’ arroyo flooding.

Howard, K.W.F. (Ed.). (2007). Urban underground- Meeting the challenge. London, UK:

Taylor & Francis/ Balkema.

The anthology edited by Howard (2007), first presents as a priority the issues of urban

groundwater based on how rapidly human population is increasing, specifically in urban

areas (p. 3). Later, he addresses issues such as technology being a helpful tool in making

efficient use and adequate protection strategies for water quality and the environment. In

addition, the book review severe problems of water being a reaching problem to low-and

middle-income countries. Moreover, it is discussed the relationship between urban

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 7

development and water, accelerating urban growth, making a considerable issue to be

addressed with the purpose of being solved. Finally, the authors who collaborated in this

anthology recognized how urban underwater problems are not specially related with a

hydrological environment, agreeing underwater issues are complex but not unworkable.

Therefore, it can be conclusive how the floods at The University of Texas at El Paso have

a solution, but some research and studies need to be done first.

Jepsen, R. A., Roberts, J. D., Langford, R., & Gailani, j. (2001). Rio Grande Erosion Potential

Demonstration-Report for the National Border Technology Program. Sandia National

Labs., Albuquerque, NM (US); Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (US). Retrieved

from https://www.osti.gov/biblio/789596

Jepsen, along with Roberts, Langford and Gailani (2001) reported the collaboration of

various national agencies, such as the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the

Sandia National Laboratories. Also, The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), and the

International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), were indispensable components in

the research of potential erosion demonstrations of the Rio Grande river. The article

acknowledged a technological innovation created by Sandia where they built a technological

measurement which grants the ascertainment of erosion and sediment prospectively in the

Rio Grande (p.157). This type of device creates a positive impact on bodies of water like

shores and rivers throughout the country. Consequently, it influences on the quantity and

quality of human health by managing and protecting the bodies of water from potential

contamination. The article is a reliable source for the finding of a solution the arroyo floods
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 8

at UTEP as the technological innovation, in which the university collaborated, can be

reached and used as a helpful tool for detecting possible erosions ahead.

Marmolejo, R. S., Sheng, Z., & Walton, J. (2010). Low Impact Development (LID) Structures for

Groundwater Management and Watershed Protection in the AMCR10 Watershed, El Paso,

Texas. Retrieved from http://twri.tamu.edu/docs/funding/usgs/2010-11/marmolejo-

proposal.pdf

The research study by Marmolejo, Sheng, and Walton (2010) presents a solution to

failing hydrologic regional problems (p. 1). As the storm water runoff have increased over the

past few years, the authors acknowledged the importance of incorporating a plan to reduce water

use and decrease storm water runoff as one of the main points to be examined and appointed (p.

2). Through these examples they justify their argument of El Paso’s need for implementation in

storm water transport and storage. Being issued, this source provides evidence for increasing

water storms and studies that conclude the urgent need for water transportation as arroyos can be

used for. It sets an argumentative fact of why the arroyo at UTEP is a key in response to climate

change increasing water storms over the past few years.

Matthews, J., Walsh, R., & Matthews, J. A. (2014). Arroyos. Encyclopedia of environmental

change. Retrieved from https://0-search-credoreference-

com.lib.utep.edu/content/topic/arroyos

Through The University of Texas at El Paso’s electronic library, the meaning of arroyo was

searched with the purpose of having a clear definition of the subject to be researched. The

electronic Encyclopedia of Environmental Change defined arroyo as in origin, a Spanish

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 9

word used to denote a channel produced by climate change (p.52). The source highlighted

the importance of these types of architectural bodies of water and mainly, and the reason for

their existence. The source is supportive in understanding importance of arroyos throughout

history in America and in the world, valuing the concept of it, and having the audience

understand their purpose of existence.

Reynoso, P. (2013). UTEP arroyo to benefit from campus transformation project. Borderzine:

Reporting across fronteras. Retrieved from http://borderzine.com/2013/04/utep-arroyo-to-

benefit-from-campus-transformation-project/

Reynoso (2013) discussed the UTEP Master’s Plan presented in 2010 which purpose was

making changes to the University, engaging it into an environmentally friendly

transformation project (p. 2). They focused on taking advantage of the arroyo and the

wildlife that comes with the existence of it at campus, improving the community and student

environment. The plan expressed the idea of building smaller arroyos throughout campus

that will help clean and lead storm water into the arroyos, providing a safer and more

effective system. Also, the article discusses the possibility of including engaging students in

outdoor activities such as walking and biking around the arroyos (p. 3). This source provides

evidence of the importance for The University of Texas at El Paso’s arroyo, presenting how

students are being encouraged to focus on solving student engagement with eco-friendly

environments, taking advantage of the arroyos and the helpful tool they represent in

decreasing floods.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 10

Sanchez, J. (2001). University bike patrol moving element to safety. The Prospector, Vol. 88,

No. 6, p. 8. https://theprospector.newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-prospector/2006-08-

23/page-4/

After water pipes burst the streets, flooding over campus in 2001, The University of

Texas at El Paso had to manage traffic control through the support of their bike patrol (p.

8). Due to the climb of the mountains which surround the campus, bike patrols had to

handle the parking lots and streets of UTEP. Even though they are efficient, it is hard for

body officials to work under bad weather conditions. The source enables a glance into

understanding the problematic of flooding throughout campus and the implications it

takes having this type of situation. It can be set as an example of why the arroyo is useful

when this certain type of situations occurs, and the canal can travel the water avoiding

water canaling in a harmful direction.

Villa, P. (2001). Arroyo may become parking area. The Prospector, Vol. 88, No. 8, p. 3.

https://theprospector.newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-prospector/2001-10-17/

In the year 2001, The University of Texas at El Paso faced a controversial organizational

dispute regarding the sacrifice of part of the arroyo for a new parking lot as many enrolled

students at the time complained about the fact that parking spaces were dismal (p. 3). The

controversial part came into place as some students felt the arroyo was an identity to the

university as it provides wildlife to the environment and it has been part of the community

for a long period of time. The source is helpful as it gives a clue to why the arroyo was

rebuilt and is an important part of UTEP after it was closed for a period of time.

Whipple Jr., W. (1994). New perspectives in water supply. Boca Raton, FL: Lewis Publishers.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 11

Whipple (1994) studied new developments in planning and managing water supply

systems. He starts off by discussing social environments and how some sectors of a

community have pure water problems and do not have access to it (p. 1). Addressing the

aforementioned problematic, Whipple acknowledged a solution of monitoring and

treating beyond technical and financial ability to provide. Also, he described possible

water systems considering governmental environmental and regulatory constraints.

Moreover, he approached water supply planners that are privately and publicly owned,

examining the complex approaches to both (p. 26). All the information and studies found

in the book were retrieved from several states and agencies among the United States,

revising the regulations among the USA and the possible solutions for deviating arroyo

floods water into a positive impacting usage of water. It is a helpful source for finding a

viable solution to the problematic regarding floods at The University of Texas at El Paso.

Ahern, M., Kovats, R. S., Wilkinson, P., Few, R., & Matthies, F. (2005). Global health impacts

of floods: epidemiologic evidence. Epidemiologic reviews, 36-46. Retrieved from

https://academic.oup.com/epirev/article/27/1/36/520815