Former El Paso mayor Carlos Ramirez recently took his oath of office as of commissioner of the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission. As head of the U.S. Section, Ramirez will oversee a multi-million dollar budget and personnel in 14 offices along the border and in Washington. The commission deals with boundary and water treaties, water distribution issues, solution of border sanitation and other border water quality problems, flood control, and operating international storage reservoirs.

Ramirez has pledged to work to solve water-supply problems on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The El Paso Times reported that Ramirez said the commission will work closely with the North American Development Bank Border Environmental Cooperation Commission on border infrastructure projects. He said Mexico needs to offer more money to border projects, the newspaper stated.